jobs could be under-threat at Bolton’s two Clinton Cards shops after it was ann- ounced the firm had gone into administration.

There are 10 full and part-time staff at the two town centre shops in Market Street and the Market Place Shopping Centre.

Staff in Bolton were yesterday unable to comment on the news, other than to say both shops were trading as usual and there were 10 staff across the two sites.

London-based financial firm Zolfo Cooper is acting as administrator and warned a number of stores will need to be closed to make the business viable.

A spokeswoman for Zolfo Cooper said: “No decision has yet been made on any individual branches, but more announcements will be made as and when any further decisions are taken.”

Zolfo Cooper’s role includes administrating Birthdays, which was based at Dumers Lane in Bury but bought by Essex-based Clintons with the loss of 45 headquarter jobs as part of 750 redundancies across the UK in 2009.

The Clintons Group is the UK’s largest greetings cards chain with more than 750 branches and 8,000 employees.

Peter Saville, a joint administrator, said: “Clintons has been faced with extremely challenging trading conditions, particularly in its Birthdays subsidiary.

“Despite evaluating ways to restructure its business, Clintons was unfortunately unable to secure adequate support or funding for its restructuring plans.

“Our first priority is to stabilise the business and assess its financial position. It will continue to trade while we undertake a full marketing exercise to find buyers for all or parts of the group so that the best possible outcome can be achieved for stakeholders. We are confident that it is an attractive proposition for a range of potential buyers and welcome expressions of interest from third parties.”

Earlier this year, Game closed GameStation shops across the country, including in Bolton and Bury.