THE administrators of Clinton Cards and sister company Birthdays today confirmed the closure of 43 more stores, including six in the East of England.

The announcement came the day after Zolfo Cooper agreed a deal securing around 4,500 jobs with the sale of 397 branches to US group American Greetings.

However, a total of 330 Clinton and Birthdays stores were not included in the rescue deal, including those which closed yesterday.

They include the Clinton Cards branch on the corner of Cornhill and Westgate Street in Ipswich, and others in Basildon and Watford, and Birthdays stores in Southend, Thurrock and Norwich’s Castle Mall.

The rest of the stores remaining with the administrators, including Clinton branches in Diss, Newmarket and Witham and the Birthdays store in Clacton, also face the prospect of closure but Zolfo Cooper said it remained open to expressions of interest in the residual estate.

Among the shops included in the sale to American Greetings, which was a major supplier and creditor of the Clinton group, were branches of Clinton Cards in Felixstowe, Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill, Lowestoft, Sudbury, Colchester, Clacton and Chelmsford and the Birthdays stores in Ipswich and Stowmarket.

American Greetings said it believed the stores acquired would prove profitable in the long term.