Growth and investor partner eComplete is on the hunt for its third acquisition.
The Manchester-based eCommerce, which was founded in 2020 by former THG executives Paul Gedman and Andy Duckworth, recently closed its second investment in Liverpool-based Give Me Cosmetics.
It followed its inaugural multi-million pound investment into聽award-winning eCommerce beauty business CurrentBody, founded by Laurence Newman and Andrew Showman, with CFO Sam Glynn providing real value add.
The company used its latest eCommerce meet-up at KPMG鈥檚 Manchester office to provide an update on the Give Me Cosmetics deal and outline their future ambitions.
Andy Duckworth, who previously worked as CEO of Myprotein at THG, said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e on the hunt for our third acquisition. We鈥檙e looking for high quality聽businesses with the potential to be globalised. It鈥檚 got to have a strong commercial play behind it but, where there鈥檚 work to still do in the businesses.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 mind imperfect businesses. No business is perfect and we鈥檙e here to help current management teams.
鈥淲e acknowledge there鈥檚 going to be challenges in businesses. We鈥檝e been through those challenges in our own journey of growing turnover from 拢20m to 拢350m and we feel we can really support.
鈥淲e understand the pitfalls, we鈥檝e made the mistakes and hopefully we can help other management teams avoid those mistakes, this time round.鈥�
He said eComplete can help with everything from marketing, supply chain efficiency and fulfilment.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not the easiest market at the moment while interest rates are high,鈥� said Duckworth. 鈥淒ebt and equity deal mixes are hard to pull off but we鈥檙e seeing indications that interest rates are changing. We feel now is the time to buy businesses.鈥�
He said CurrentBody and聽Give Me Cosmetics were the perfect fit for eComplete.
鈥淲e liked the profit in the first order at CurrentBody,鈥� explained Duckworth. 鈥�99聽per cent of first orders are profitable. They鈥檙e not reliant on an LTV (lifetime value).
鈥淵ou鈥檙e trained to think about LTV, frequency and repeat but if you鈥檙e making money on your first order, the rest of it is a bonus. The C-suite are excellent and we鈥檙e able to support them.鈥�
In the case of Give Me Cosmetics,聽more than 60 per cent of revenue comes from social channels and it鈥檚 positioned as one of the UK鈥檚 fastest-growing brands on TikTok.
Duckworth said:聽鈥淒uckworth said: 鈥淲e love the fact that Give Me Cosmetics is a local business. We鈥檙e massive fans of what they鈥檝e done with social marketing. They鈥檙e TikTok experts and we think there鈥檚 a huge opportunity to globalise that business.鈥�
The other speakers at the event were: Paul Gedman, co-founder of eComplete; Les Yates, M&A and strategy director at eComplete Group; Georgia D’Costa, partnership manager at SellersFi; experienced CFO Paul Masters; Robert Baxter, KPMG head of corporate finance and head of consumer M&A globally; Christine Liu, brand partnership manager at TikTok; Ricky Jennings, head of eCommerce at聽聽luxury streetwear brand Represent; and Alex Wright, partnership manager at SHOPLINE.
The event was hosted by 老九品茶Cloud鈥檚 executive editor Chris Maguire and there was also a presentation from Knutsford charity聽Children’s Adventure Farm Trust (CAFT).