Park Group snaps up Christmas hamper company for £300,000
Home shopping group Findel has announced the sale of its Home Farm Hampers business to Park Group for£300,000.

The move to offload the division follows a strategic review that led to the decision to focus on the core cash-with-order side of the business.

The decision to exit the Christmas hamper market follows the well-publicised collapse of Christmas savings club Farepak last October.

Findel owned 60 per cent of the Home Farm business, before obtaining the remaining 40 per cent off European Home Retail (EHR) when the group went into administration last year.

EHR went into administration following the collapse of talks with its bank HBoS about funding a shortfall at its Farepak food and gifts business. In a£34 million deal, Findel bought several of EHR's operations, including online sports retailer Kitbag, gift and gadget web site Iwantoneofthose.com and network marketing company Kleeneze. Findel did not acquire the Farepak business.

Home Farm has 7,500 agents and an estimated order book of£8 million. The business is to be merged into Park's existing operation in Birkenhead.

Park Group executive chairman Peter Johnson said: 'The acquisition of Home Farm will provide additional revenues as well as other operational benefits.'

Park Group has a record of swallowing rival hamper firms, including Family and Country. It has continued to run many of the companies it has bought as separate businesses, but smaller businesses have been merged into Park's operations.

Johnson has tried to buy Farepak four times, most recently at the time of its collapse, when he offered to trade it through Christmas and then pay a price for the business in the new year.