Succession on the cards as Lewin junior eyes taking on chain's top job

Business Profile: Clinton Cards' managing director aims to put his stamp on the company with expansion to 1,000 stores

Clinton Lewin, who runs the Clinton Cards greeting cards chain, reckons he has just the thing for an economic downturn: redundancy cards. "We did redundancy cards in the early Nineties and then stopped," he says. "But we are contemplating bringing them back for our branches in the City of London."

Just think, highly paid investment bankers commiserating each other with "Sorry You're Sacked" missives in envelopes stained by tears. Well, it's a revenue opportunity, isn't it?

You might laugh but over lunch in a Canary Wharf restaurant, Mr Lewin runs through the full line-up of card-sending events, which range from the vaguely plausible, to the frankly bonkers.

"We're interested in Saints days," he says. "It started with St Patrick's Day [which is today] and then we've moved on to St George's Day, St Andrew's and St David's, though they're not quite as popular. It comes from customers, they start asking for things and we satisfy that need."

It doesn't end there. "We do cards for Eid [a Muslim festival]. It's something to do with the movement of the moon but that's about as much as I know about it. We've got Jewish New Year, Passover and Chinese New Year, because most people know someone who's Chinese. It's all part of being a specialist."

There's more. "Mother's Day [30 March] is quite a big event for us. And we'll have cards for Mother's Day that'll say, 'From the dog', or 'From the cat'. We do cards for divorce. Then there's Secretary's Day [23 April] and Bosses' Day. That's come from America and the cards are a bit schmaltzy at the moment. We need something that takes the Mickey a bit more, then it might work."

Mr Lewin, 41, delivers all this with a laugh and in an Essex accent that has that deadpan quality which makes him sounds a bit like the comedian Jack Dee. Short and stocky (he held the record for years as the heaviest baby born at his local Essex hospital when he weighed in at more than 11 pounds) he knows the business back to front. And no wonder. He was born into it.

His father, Don Lewin, started the company when Clinton was seven and named it after him. Since then it has been built up into a chain of 703 stores and it now has a 17 per cent share of the UK's £1bn greeting cards market.

His father, who is 70 in June, remains chairman and chief executive while Clinton is managing director. Asked whether he wants to be chief executive, he says: "Yes I do. That's the reason for being here." He is waiting patiently for Dad to hand over the reins. "But there is nothing on the cards at the moment," he says.

All of which leads us to the Higgs review on non-executive directors where Clinton Cards must be one of the least Higgs-compliant companies on the stock market. Not only does Mr Lewin senior combine the roles of chairman and chief executive but Clinton's sister, Debbie, is also on the board as product development director. Of the three non-executives, one has been there since the business was incorporated and another has been on the board since 1992 and so can hardly be classified as independent. "The company complies with some of the issues but there's quite a lot [in the Higgs review] that seems a bit over the top," Mr Lewin says.

The family are close and all still live near the company's home base of Loughton in Essex. Mr Lewin's sister lives just a couple of minutes away and married one of his best friends, George. "It's all very incestuous, isn't it?" he says with a laugh. He follows rugby and football where as a loyal Essex man he is a season ticket holder at West Ham. "I believe we're going to stay up, I really do."

As a youngster Mr Lewin enjoyed working his way up Clinton Cards from the position of Saturday boy. He left school at 16 with one O-level and though he describes himself as no academic, he makes up for it with retail savvy and hard work. "I was very in favour of joining from an early age. I was never forced into it," he explains.

He has bullish plans for the business. "We're probably looking for a chain of 1,000 stores in eight to nine years," he says. "We hope to open 30 or 40 a year while upgrading others."

He reckons 200 of its current branches could be doubled in size in order to offer a wider range. "Otherwise people get miffed when they come in for a birthday card at seasonal times like Christmas and there is only room for a small range."

There could be an assault on the United States where people send almost as many cards a year as they do in this country (48 per person a year compared with the UK's 52). He explains: "Selling greeting cards in English-speaking countries is something I see Clinton Cards doing in the future. America would be of interest, depending on timing and the right opportunity."

And a UK acquisition is also a possibility. He admits the Birthdays and Card Warehouse chains "could be of interest depending on price and availability". Clinton Cards held talks with Birthdays last year and Mr Lewin admits the talks could be revived, though there are no current discussions.

In the UK he wants to "departmentalise" the stores more. This will see Bob the Builder merchandise and Crayola products sold near the children's' ranges and maybe jokey mugs and photo frames by the 40th birthday cards. The idea is to increase the average transaction size, currently £4.40. There will be more innovation, with "noise" cards and ones where you can record your own message. "Ali G has been popular, though I don't think I should repeat the things he says," Mr Lewin jokes.

Also hitting the right note is Cliff Richard, a customer of the Weybridge branch in Surrey, apparently. "We launched him at Christmas [singing 'Mistletoe and Wine']. We're also going to do Wedding Day cards with [his early hit] 'Congratulations'."

With the family's 39 per cent stake in the business worth £40m and with Clinton Cards expected to report profits of £25m in April, Mr Lewin can afford a smile. All he wants now is the top job.

CLINTON LEWIN CARD SHARP

Title: Managing director, Clinton Cards

Age: 41

Pay: £254,000

Career history: Left school at 16 with one O-level in art. Joined Clinton Cards immediately and worked way up.

Interests: Rugby and football (West Ham supporter), family (married with three children). Holidays in father's villa in Portugal.