THE home-shopping company behind the Littlewoods catalogue is to buy Ladybird, the popular childrenswear brand that was part of the collapsed retailer Woolworths.

Shop Direct, whose catalogue brands also include Kays and Great Universal, has beaten off competition from other retailers such as Mothercare for the right to buy Ladybird.

It is not clear how much the home-shopping company is paying for the brand, one of the key assets being sold by Deloitte, the administrators to Woolworths. They are also hoping to sell Chad Valley, the toymaker.

The acquisition may come as a surprise to some, given that Shop Direct announced a big redundancy programme last week. It is closing a call centre in Crosby, Merseyside, and cutting a number of head-office roles. In total, 1,150 jobs could be affected, although some staff will be offered the chance to relocate.

The cutbacks have been made as Shop Direct focuses increasingly on the internet rather than more traditional catalogue retailing, under the guidance of chief executive Mark Newton-Jones, who previously worked for Next.

Ladybird, one of the best-selling children’s clothing brands in the UK, was created by the Pasold family in the 1930s. Woolworths bought the rights to the brand from garment maker Coats Viyella in 1984 and acquired the business outright in 2001 for a reported £12m.

Woolworths went into administration at the end of November and all its 800 stores have closed.

Separately, it has emerged that the former boss of MK One, Elaine McPherson, is advising Mike Basso, the main debt-holder in the maternity chain Blooming Marvellous.

Basso, of the sports-retail wholesaler Pan World Brands, bought the retailer’s debt from Barclays before it was put into administration last week. MCR is handling the administration. It is understood that Basso paid around £100,000 for the debt, which had a paper value of £750,000.

Arev, the Icelandic investor, bought Blooming Marvellous in 2007 for around £5m.

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