Clinton rescues 1450 jobs with buyback of Birthdays

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The deal will save 1450 of Birthdays' 2100 jobs.

Clinton said it is buying 196 of the 332 stores under the Birthday banner for a total of £3.5 million. Of the purchase price, all but £250,000 is being met by cutting the amount of debt that Birthdays owed to Clinton. Don Lewis, founder and chairman of Clinton, said: "We are very pleased to be able to report the successful purchase of a large proportion of the Birthdays stores thereby ensuring employment for 1450 people."

He said the stores that are being bought back had sales of £74 million last year and made an operating profit of £2.7 million.

When the chain was put into administration last month, he said it was losing £7million a year. He also said there would a be £44 million write-off on the business this financial year.

Clinton has also bought back the Birthdays brand. At the same time, it has reached a new deal with its banks that could see them ending up with a 2% stake in the company.