Card Factory executives pocket £54m following stock market float

Creative director Stuart Middleton sold £21.7m worth of shares, a third of his stake, and property head Anthony Barraclough sold half his stake and earned £18.5m. Card Factory chief executive Richard Hayes banked £14m.

Charterhouse, Card Factory’s private equity owner, sold £130m of stock, according to the Sunday Times.

However, Card Factory posted a disappointing performance on its stock market debut. The value greetings card retailer had hoped for an £800m market valuation upon listing but it listed at the bottom end of its range at 225p, valuing it at £766.6m after conditional trading began last week.

And then shares fell 11% in the first two days of trading, which makes the retailer one of the worst performers among a flurry of retail IPOs this year, which include Pets at Home and Poundland.

Unconditional trading will start this week.

UBS, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Investec, and STJ Advisors pocketed £4.6m in fees. Chairman Geoff Cooper bought £330,000 of shares in the float.

The share fall has indicated a mood of caution for London listings, particularly those that are heavily promoted. Shares in AO World have fallen by a fifth since its float in February.