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Clinton Cards in red after £30m charge

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Date: Monday 13 Oct 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Clinton Cards plunged into a full year loss as the greetings card retailer announced an impairment charge of £30m related to its Birthdays business.

Adjusted net profit before tax for the 53 weeks to 3 August rose to £19.5m from £17m in 2007 on revenue up to £465m from £460.1m. But a £30m impairment charge related to the Birthdays unit caused a net loss of £13.1m versus a profit of 15.1m last year.

The firm also said that despite average customer spend per head holding steady, footfall decreased across the group, sending like for like sales down by 5.2% and 2.5% at Clinton and Birthdays brands respectively.

Like for like sales for the 53 weeks increased by 1.3%, with the Clinton brand up by 0.7% and Birthdays by 3.5%.

Clinton also said it was disappointed at the 38.9% reduction in the Birthdays adjusted operating loss to £4.4m, which was behind the schedule set when it bought Birthdays in December 2004.

“Christmas trading and the spring seasons are key elements to group performance and given the strength of both brands on the high street, we believe that our product offering and brand positioning at these seasonal events may provide a degree of resilience during these uncertain times,” said chairman Don Lewin.

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