UP to 200 redundancies are on the cards at the Bury headquarters of Birthdays.

Bosses are considering transferring the head office of the UK's leading greetings cards retailer from Dumers Lane to Glasgow.

The shock news was broken to the stunned workforce on Tuesday afternoon as the company launched a 30-day consultation period.

The threat comes just six months after the business was sold to two Scottish entrepreneurs in a deal reportedly worth £60 million.

If the transfer goes ahead, only Birthdays' warehousing operation will remain in Bury. The relocation is understood to affect up to 200 clerical and administrative staff.

Bury North MP David Chaytor, who is writing to the new owners, branded this week's announcement as "seriously bad news".

Management were remaining tight-lipped this week and declined to talk to the Bury Times.

But a statement issued read: "At the time of our acquisition of the business, we noted that it faced challenges. In order to address those challenges and secure the business and its long-term future we are assessing a number of options, including the possible retention of warehousing facilities in Bury and the relocation of the headquarters to Scotland.

"To this effect, we have initiated a consultation period with affected personnel in regard to the relocation option."

Nationwide, Birthdays operates more than 500 stores and also has a number of Party Land outlets. Turnover in the financial year to June 2003 was £144 million.

The company changed hands last November when Scots Tom Hunter and Chris Gorman took charge. Mr Gorman helped to create the Glasgow-based Gadgetshop network.

One shocked Birthdays worker told the Bury Times: "We feared the worst when the firm changed hands. It's a big blow for Bury, seeing as Ron Wood set it up from a market stall all those years ago, and it has been one of the town's success stories."

Mr Chaytor said: "This is seriously bad news. If these plans go through, it will be the biggest single redundancy announcement in Bury north for many years. I have every sympathy for staff who are going through a terrible period of uncertainty.

"I am keen to hear from anybody working at Birthdays to learn more about what the company is proposing."

Birthdays was founded by well-known local businessman Ron Wood who began selling cards from the back of his van in 1966. He built his bustling and profitable Ron Wood Greetings Cards wholesale and retail company into the largest supplier of its kind in Europe. In 1996, Mr Wood sold Birthdays to big city investors in a £90 million deal.