Ardenton buys greetings cards business Budget Trading

Alessia Argentieri
12 March 2019

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Ardenton Capital has acquired a majority stake inТ Manchester-headquartered business Budget Trading and its Dublin-based sister company Budget Greeting Cards (BGC).

Unquote understands that Ardenton bought a 51% stake in the business and used a debt package provided by Yorkshire Bank to support the deal.

Following the acquisition, the co-founder and managing director of Budget Trading and BGC, Paul Lavery, will stay on with the company and retain the remaining 49% stake, while his brother and co-founder Martin Lavery will exit the business but will remain involved on a consultancy basis to help BGC achieve its growth ambitions.

Ardenton plans to further boost the company's expansion into new geographies within the UK, starting with the opening of a new showroom in the East Midlands. Furthermore, the fresh capital and the GP's support will be deployed to develop an e-commerce platform able to drive additional growth.

Company
Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Manchester, BGC designs and sells greetings cards, gift wrap, banners and gift bags, as well as other stationery and celebratory products to businesses. It operates eight cash-and-carry warehouses across the UK and Ireland, employing 180 staff. The company generated EBITDA of £3m from revenues of £36m in 2018.

People
Ardenton UK – Michael Bradbury (director).
Budget Greeting Cards – Paul Lavery (co-founder, managing director).

Advisers
Equity – Pinsent Masons (legal); Grant Thornton (financial due diligence).
Company – Mazars (corporate finance); Knights (legal).