- CEO
- Darcy Willson-Rymer
- Full Time Employees
- 9,266
- Sector
- Retail trade
- Industry
- Specialty stores
- Address
- Century House Wakefield WY United Kingdom WF2 0XG
- IPO Date
- May 15, 2014
- Business
- Card Factory plc is the UK's leading specialist retailer of greeting cards, gifts and celebration essentials. The company designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of greeting cards including premium and personalised ranges; gifts such as baby gifts, soft toys, milestone age gifts and confectionery; celebration accessories encompassing balloons, party tableware, wrapping paper, gift bags, tags and packaging; and related products like stationery through its cardfactory stores, online platforms and third-party partnerships. It operates over 1,100 stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland; provides wholesale partnerships in markets including the US, Australia and New Zealand; and manufactures products in-house at facilities in the UK including Printcraft and Baildon. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, the company pursues a global celebrations strategy with segments spanning stores, online retail via cardfactory.co.uk, partnerships and manufacturing. Recent developments include the acquisition of Garlanna in the Republic of Ireland and Garven in the US during fiscal 2025 to accelerate international expansion; the purchase of Funky Pigeon from WH Smith PLC in August 2025 for £24.1 million to bolster its digital presence in personalised cards and gifting; the opening of 32 net new stores in fiscal 2025 bringing the total to 1,090 as of January 2025 and further expansion to 1,111 by late 2025; strong growth in partnerships revenue to £22.2 million in fiscal 2025 with extensions to Aldi UK/Ireland and The Reject Shop in Australia; closure of the Getting Personal platform in January 2025 to focus on higher-margin digital sales; and rollout of efficiency investments such as upgraded point-of-sale systems under its Simplify and Scale programme.