Following a review of the business, WH Smith PLC has agreed the sale of online personalised greeting cards business funkypigeon.com to Card Factory. The £24 million deal is expected to complete by the end of the calendar year.
Funkypigeon was originally acquired by WH Smith in 2010.
WH Smith, once a high street stalwart originally established in 1792, now operates as a pure play travel retailer. It has more than 580 stores in travel locations such as airports and train stations, as well as hospitals, in the UK. It also operates an international arm.
The company completed the sale of its UK high street business, which comprised 480 stores, to Modella Capital at the end of June but retained the WHSmith brand. The high street stores have since been rebranded as TG Jones. Today, WH Smith describes itself as “a leading global travel retailer for news, books and convenience”.
In the funkypigeon.com deal, consideration represents an enterprise value of £26m on a cash and debt-free basis and an equity value of £24m. Net cash proceeds, when adjusted for transaction costs, are anticipated to be £21m and will be used to improve the group’s net debt position.
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