Hunter’s Flying Brands in £800,000 deal

Flying Brands, the Jersey-based mail order firm in which Ayrshire entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter holds a 29 per cent stake, is selling its audio books and bird food businesses for £800,000.

Shares in the firm rose 5 per cent in early trading after it unveiled the proposed sales, which will need shareholder approval.

The Garden Bird Supplies, Garden Centre Online and Listen2 businesses are expected to be sold to the Garden & Home Trading Company for £720,000, while some of the intellectual property behind Garden Centre Online will be bought by Williams Commerce for £80,000.

Hunter has been leading a restructuring at Flying Brands that has already involved the sale of its gifts division and two properties on Jersey.

If the latest deals go through then Flying Brands will be left to concentrate on its Gardening Direct business.