£25m Garven Holdings acquisition marks physical entry into biggest global market
America is the next destination for Cardfactory as the greeting card retail giant has taken over gifts and celebrations company Garven Holdings for £25million to expand its international operation and secure a physical entry into the US.
As chief commercial officer Adam Dury prepares to leave the business, one of his last major tasks has been to assist with the strategic acquisition of the business that trades as Garven Design and Cadence Packaging, based in Minnesota.
The move marks Cardfactory’s physical entry into the US gifts and celebration essentials sector, which represents the biggest market globally, valued at around £70billion, and the £25m was paid on completion of the deal on Wednesday, 4 December, funded from existing cash and debt facilities.
Cardfactory CEO Darcy Willson-Rymer said yesterday, 5 December: “The acquisition of Garven is an important strategic milestone in our partnerships strategy. Together with our separate wholesale supply agreement covering over 1,100 stores across the US, it establishes a physical presence in the US market.”
With Cardfactory already having a presence in South Africa, Ireland, Australia and the Middle East, Darcy added that this US acquisition “accelerates our partnerships strategy in one of our key international target markets”.
Chief operating officer Anne Schulze and chief financial officer Walter Jungbauer will continue to manage the Garven business, which has an established customer base of general and speciality retailers and will allow Cardfactory, which has over 1,070 stores in the UK and Ireland, to further explore design and buying synergies, alongside opportunities to introduce its own ranges into the US wholesale market.
Darcy added: “Over a number of years Garven has built a reputation as a trusted brand known for its quality products and impressive design capabilities, with Anne and Walter building an excellent customer proposition.
“We are excited to welcome the Garven team to Cardfactory and look forward to building upon their existing commercial relationships, as well as forging new ones.
“International partnerships are a key component of our growth strategy. This acquisition is a key step in delivering the growth from partnerships as we guided at our capital markets update in May last year. Garven represents an exciting opportunity for Cardfactory to build scale in the world’s biggest celebration occasions market.”
This acquisition comes less than three months after Cardfactory bought Irish card company Garlanna from founders Alan and Jackie MacNamee.
In an update, the company said trading in the second half of the financial year to date has been in line with expectations and “we have been encouraged by the start of the Christmas season”, while the programme of productivity and efficiency savings announced at the interim results in September remains on track, with expectations for the full year “unchanged”.
Adam, who has been the trade-facing frontman of Cardfactory since he joined as CCO five years ago, leaves the business this month to become chief operating officer at pet retailer Jollyes in January where CEO Joe Wykes described him as among the “best talent in British retailing”.
