Retailer Card Express on brink of administration
Card Express, a greetings card retailer founded by veteran retailer Ron Wood, who built and then sold the Birthdays chain, has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators.
The company is described on its website as “a North West based greeting card specialist currently trading from 8 stores across the region” and with identifiable stores in Wythenshawe, Warrington, Stockport, Thornton Cleveleys, Wrexham.
The filing by law firm Addleshaw Goddard on September 19, 2023 at court in Manchester is intended to halt any existing or pending creditor action and provides a breathing space in which to take positive action.
The business is under the control of Paul Bernard Wood, after the company posted a notice regarding the “Cessation of Ronald James Wood as a person with significant control on 12 May 2022”.
Recent filings at Companies House also include a charge by NatWest Bank, registered in 2022.
The company has only ever filed abbreviated accounts, as required by a business with turnover under £10.2 million, or assets worth no more than £5.1 million, or with 50 or fewer employees on average.
Card Express did not respond to requests for comment.
Addleshaw Goddard confirmed the filing but a spokesman said they had “nothing to add at this stage”.
Ron Wood founded Ron Wood Greeting Cards Holdings with his wife Gail in 1966, opening stores under the Birthdays name in 1975, eventually selling a stake to 3i in 1999 and then to rival Clintons in 2004 for a reported £50m.
