The owner of Card Factory has appointed KPMG to assess the options for the business to include a possible sale, or management buyout with private equity backing.
Entrepreneur Dean Hoyle and his wife Janet set up the greetings card company in 1997. The Wakefield-based business now has 4,000 employees and will have 480 shops by the end of the year.
Card Factory is amongst Yorkshire's fastest growing businesses, and its reported revenues for the seven months to the end of January 2008 were at £90.7m with profits of £17.4m. It is thought that financial figures for 2009 will reveal turnover and profits doubling for Sportswift Ltd, which trades as Card Factory.
The company designs, manufactures, supplies and retails greetings cards, gifts, gift wrap and novelties.
According to new research published by the Greetings Card Association, British consumers spent £1.7bn on cards in 2008, and over 1.5bn cards were sold.
Last month, Mr Hoyle was named Ernest & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the retail and consumer products category. After opening the first shop in 1997, the business had expanded to 38 shops in six years.
