EMPLOYEES of gift shop Birthdays in Hampshire have been left with the hangover from the retail party, after the chain collapsed due to losses.

Greetings giant Clinton Cards, which owns Birthdays, has washed its hands of the chain and placed it into administration after growing tired of annual £7m losses.

Administrators Zolfo Cooper could not confirm to the Daily Echo how many Hampshire employees are affected by the move.

Birthdays currently has six shops in the county with one in The Mall in Southampton and one in Westbury Mall in Fareham and their immediate future is now uncertain.

Nationally the chain has a portfolio of 332 stores employing 2,200 staff.

A statement from the administrators Peter Saville, Alastair Beveridge and Stuart Mackellar said: “Birthdays has incurred ongoing trading losses for some time and, although its sales performance has been improving, it has required a significant amount of financial support from its parent.

“Given the current economic uncertainty and the structure of the Birthday’s business, there is little prospect of Birthdays generating a profit in the near future.

“We will be working closely with management and employees as well as other key stakeholders over the coming months and are hopeful of securing the future of the business.

Clinton’s, which has 25 Hampshire stores, bought Birthdays in 2004, hoping to shake off the company’s troubles.

Clinton group chairman Don Lewin said: “It is with deep regret that we have taken the decision to place the Birthdays’ business into administration.

“Everyone at Birthdays has worked tirelessly to try and turn the business around and I would like to thank everybody for their hard work and dedication over the past five years.”