David Byk adds stationery and calendar firm to Ling, GBCC and Penny Kennedy group
Swan Mill Group, which includes Ling Design, GBCC and Penny Kennedy, has acquired The Gifted Stationery Company, but it is to continue trading as a separate operation with its own sales team.
The Bath-based business, known as Gifted, produces gift stationery, calendars, diaries and includes new kids’ lifestyle brand Hey Hugo which offers accessories ranging from backpacks, pencil cases, meal boxes, and water bottles.
The company has been solely owned by Nigel Parr since 2018, who is to remain with the business for the next 15 months at least and the company will continue to be run from its Bath premises, with its own team of sales agents.
“This is a really exciting step,” commented David Byk, CEO of the Swan Mill Group. “It seemed a sensible thing to do on the day of a major Budget, to buy another business!” he quipped, adding: “Nigel and I have known each other since 2019 and always knew that Gifted would be a business we should buy if he ever decided to sell.
“I’m really excited to welcome the Gifted team to the group and look forward to the continuation of what is a very successful company. It is a great acquisition for us, within our wheelhouse, but expanding into new areas too which ties excellently into our customer base, skill set and knowledge base.”
While calendars and diaries, of which Gifted has a 500-plus range, are new to the group stationery is an area in which GBCC is gaining traction in the premium sector, and David believes: “This acquisition will broaden that offer for the group as a whole” while the Hey Hugo offer is “a really exciting opportunity.
“I’m really pleased Nigel is staying with the business and will be key to its ongoing success. We will continue to run Gifted as a standalone business in Bath with Nigel in charge and he will be able to lean into the rest of the group where necessary.”
Nigel admits he’s been contemplating retirement for a while, but said: “A huge part of this process was finding the right home for Gifted, one that could take the business to the next level and beyond and have financial strength to do so.
“I’ve known David for a few years now, and we have a joint ethos in our approach to business and one that will serve Gifted well in the future. I look forward to staying with the business, working with the team and running the mix between business as usual and reaping the benefits and possibly some challenges of a larger group supporting us.”
Nigel recalled his bizarre first meeting with David at Heathrow when they were both on a flight to Hong Kong for the Canton trade fair, but had to find their own way to China when the plane was cancelled.
He laughed: “We’re the only two mad people who thought it was a good idea to land in HK and then take three buses into China and a taxi to a hotel in Guangzhou arriving unshowered nearly 24 hours later in order to be at the fair as quickly as possible.
“We’d worked out we were both staying at the same hotel so decided to race each other to the hotel in China from Heathrow with the loser having to buy the beers. We still disagree about who bought the beers but, at that point, I’d worked out we have a business ethos in common!”
Gifted is the second large acquisition for the Swan Mill Group in the last five years, following on from its purchase of The Great British Card Company (GBCC) and its Waterwells brokerage side in August 2019. David has headed up the Swan Mill Group since his father died in 2000, and also bought Ling Design in 2015, and the Penny Kennedy giftwrap arm in 2004.
