Huddersfield Town chairman Dean Hoyle on Card Factory sale speculation

Nov 11 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HUDDERSFIELD Town chairman Dean Hoyle has refused to rule out a sale of his greeting cards business.

Shareholders at Card Factory have called in business advisers KPMG to carry out a strategic review of the company, leading to speculation he could be about to sell up.

But Hoyle told the Examiner: “There’s not a lot to say.

“KPMG has been appointed to carry out a strategic review and then, who knows? But the markets are depressed at the moment.”

Asked if one of the options would be to sell the business, he repeated: “I think we need a strategic review of operations.”

He said the business was in good health having posted record turnover and record profits last year.

A spokeswoman for KPMG said she could not comment on speculation about a potential sale of the company.

“All we can say is that we have been appointed by the shareholders to look at their operations,” she said

Hoyle, 42, a lifelong Town fan, and his wife Janet founded the greeting cards business in 1997.

Based in Wakefield, it is one of Yorkshire’s fastest-growing companies with 4,500 staff and about 480 stores.

There are two shops in Huddersfield on the Piazza and the Packhorse Centre, with others in Dewsbury, Batley and Halifax.