American Greetings Corp buys seven card shops in Northern Ireland
Seven Northern Ireland shops that were part of the collapsed Clinton Cards and Birthdays chain have been sold to an American company.
Across the UK, 397 shops have been sold to Ohio-based American Greetings Corp.
The shops that have been saved are Clinton's branches in Derry, Omagh, Craigavon, Abbey Centre, Enniskillen and Belfast Forestside.
A Birthdays in Belfast has also been sold.
The remaining Northern Ireland stores remain under the control of the administrator, Zolfo Cooper.
Four of these shops have already been closed and the remainder are under threat of closure unless another buyer can be found.
Peter Saville, joint administrator and partner at Zolfo Cooper said: "We have always been of the view that despite an intensely competitive retail environment and what proved to be excessively ambitious expansion plans in recent years, there was a strong underlying business contained within Clinton Cards.
"We would like to thank the staff for their dedication and patience throughout what has been an understandably difficult time for all concerned and we wish both them and the new owners of the business every success for the future."