Card Factory acquires SA Greetings for £2.5m

Card Factory, the UK’s specialist retailer of greeting cards, has announced it has acquired the entire share capital of SA Greetings Corporation and its subsidiaries, SA Greetings, for £2.5m. 

With its head office located in Johannesburg, SA Greetings is the leading wholesaler of greeting cards and gift packaging in South Africa. It also operates 24 ‘Cardies’ retail stores, with four further stores operated by franchisees, and owns and operates a roll-wrap production facility.

During the last trading update which ended in February 2023 SA Greetings had reported earnings before taxes of £591,000 and profits before taxes of £165,000 from net sales of £9.4m. 

The acquisition was financed from Card Factory’s working capital and it will provide strategic growth by providing access to wholesale accounts through SA Greetings’ printing, merchandising and warehousing capacity. 

Darcy Willson-Rymer, chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of SA Greetings and look forward to working with our new colleagues. Under the continued leadership of SA Greetings MD, Willie Engelbrecht, we will closely collaborate to further enhance and develop opportunities for the Card Factory and SA Greetings businesses. 

“SA Greetings brings with it significant experience operating a wholesale business, which can inform and support development of our retail partnership business, and is entirely aligned with Card Factory’s strategic plan for international expansion.  As well as giving us a foothold into our target South African market, we will also be using their mature printing, merchandising and warehousing facilities to understand how we can deliver similar local capability in other target markets.”