Upmarket card and stationery retailer Paperchase will have a US presence again after entering a partnership with American retailer Target to sell its products.

The move comes as Paperchase disclosed rising sales and profits for last year.

Target, which has 1,800 discount stores in the US, will start to sell Paperchase products from next month.

It is a return to the country after its former US parent company Borders Inc collapsed last year.

Chief executive and part owner of Paperchase Timothy Melgund said: “When Borders collapsed, we left behind a lot of customers in the US and we always said we wanted to go back there.

“Then Target came along and we fit with their strategy of working with like-minded companies that can add that little bit of difference.”

This week it will also launch in Paris department store Galeries Lafayette, triggering a roll out across France in 2013.

Paperchase’s turnover for 2011 increased 9% to £77.6m.  Pre-tax profit jumped 29% to £846,000, while EBITDA was up 20% to £5m, excluding the impact of terminated overseas operations.

In the year, Paperchase opened 14 stores, taking the UK total to 81. Next year, the retailer has committed to “a number of standalone sites”, including an 18,000 sq ft store in Glasgow’s Buchanon Street, which opens in March.

Paperchase said it also plans to plough “significant” investment into its online business, as sales have gathered momentum across the channel due to an increase in overseas buyers. The website will be upgraded in the “coming months”.

Melgund said: “We have now emerged from the Borders legacy and, despite the widely accepted challenging retail market, Paperchase is performing well.”

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