Flying Brands buys up Flowers Direct rival

FLYING Brands, the home shopping business part-owned by Sir Tom Hunter, has bought rival Flowers Direct from the administrators in a near-£3 million deal.

The assets being acquired by the group include Flowers Direct's websites, a network of some 750 florists and a database of about 300,000 customers.

Jersey-based Flying Brands said the deal would increase the scale of its gifts division and complement its existing flower delivery business. It has also identified "substantial cost savings" from combining the two businesses.

Flying Brands chief executive Stephen Cook said: "Although there will be substantial cost savings arising from the combination of the two businesses the primary purpose of the acquisition is to provide a strong platform for future growth."

The Flowers Direct business, based in Morecambe, Lancashire, has gross assets of 2.95m.

It generated 6m of revenues and made a loss of 500,000 for the financial year to 31 March 2010.

In a trading update earlier this month, Flying Brands, which operates under brands including Flying Flowers, Gardening Direct and Listen2, said recent sales in its garden division had been ahead of last year with other divisions trading in line with expectations.

Hunter owns just under 30 per cent of the business.