LONDON (ShareCast) - British greeting card retailer Card Factory is to join the growing list of companies floating on the stock market.

Card Factory, which started life in 1997 with one shop and now has more than 700 stores nationwide, said it expected to raise about £90m to pay debt from the offer to certain institutional investors and other UK investors as well as US institutions.

Funds managed by Charterhouse General Partners, some other shareholders and the group's management plan to sell at least a quarter of its equity.

By listing, the group is following in the footsteps of the likes of discounter Poundland, fashion retailer Boohoo and pet goods retailer Pets at Home.

Card Factory sold more than 285m single cards in the year to January 31st, boosting revenue by 9% to £326.9m and underlying pre-tax earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation by 9.2% to £80.4m.

Chief Executive Richard Hayes said: "The scale, resilience and continued growth of this market reflect the fact that the giving of physical cards is and will remain ingrained in UK culture."

PW

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