by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Clinton Cards collapsed into administration this afternoon, jeopardising more than 8,000 jobs - including dozens in Kent.

One of the country's largest retailers of greetings cards employs 4,800 staff in its HQ and 628 stores as well as at 139 shops under the Birthdays banner.

In Kent and Medway, it operates at least 18 Clinton Cards outlets - Dartford, Gravesend, Bluewater, Chatham, Hempstead Valey, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Sittingbourne, Faversham, Herne Bay, Canterbury, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Dover, Folkestone, Broadstairs, Ramsgate and Tenterden.

Earlier today, the struggling company, founded by Don Lewin and controlled by the family, asked for trading in its shares to be suspended.

In a stock exchange statement, it said Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland had sold £35m of debt to American Greetings, a US company.

It had hoped the firm would support the UK business and waive "technical breaches" of its loan agreement with its banks.

But the US firm has said it intends to enforce the loan and place the UK company into administration.

The firm blamed internet sales and digital greetings for poor performance.

E-greetings have become more popular in recent years, with younger people not sending as many hard-copy cards as an older generation. There has also been a trend to self-designed cards.