BURY'S Birthdays king Ron Wood has sold out to big city investors in a £90 million deal.

The boss of Ron Wood Greetings Cards is selling his controlling stake in the phenomenally successful firm.

But he has promised staff that it will be "business as usual" with no job losses.

Mr Wood (47), who founded the company 27 years ago, steps down from the board where he was chairman but remain as a consultant.

He and the Birthdays management team will retain 28 per cent of the shares after the sale to a consortium of institutional investors.

The business has more than 330 shops nationwide and is the largest independent retailer of greetings cards, tags and giftwraps in the UK.

It employs more than 2,600 people and has grown rapidly since Mr Wood launched the Birthdays concept ten years ago.

Just last year the company moved to a new £10 million distribution centre near Dumers Lane.

The name will also be familiar to Shakers fans - Birthdays is the named sponsor of Bury FC.

Operating profits reached £11 million in the year to June 1996, on a turnover of £99.3 million.

Mr Wood is Bury born-and-bred, and went to school in Whitefield.

He said: "All the other members of Birthdays management are staying on and there are no plans at all affecting jobs - so it will be business as usual."

The new chairman is John Lovering, former financial director of Sears and chief operating officer of Tarmac.

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