0:01 Hello there, and welcome back to the Allbiz Deal Room podcast where we talk about business sales and opportunities listed on the Allbiz deal room.
0:09 Today we're going to talk to John Gabriel. John's a partner with the Allbiz team in Queensland. He's an experienced accountant who helps business owners list and prepare their businesses for sale, in addition to helping find business partners and investors.
0:22 John, I believe you've got a very interesting business this week. Could you tell us a little bit about this one when it started, maybe it's a bit about its history.
0:30 Yeah, well, a, a lead of wetsuits here on the Gold Coast established way back in 1969. So you know, it's been going for over 50 years now, which is you know, it's unusual really to come across a business opportunity with, with 50 plus years of history.
0:46 But yeah Keith Williams here on the Gold Coast in, in 1969 kicked it off. I, I believe it was Australia's first ever wetsuit manufacturer.
0:56 So, yeah, for all that time it's been, you know, producing the, the wetsuits and rash vests and team gear from locally here on the Gold Coast.
1:04 Sold all around Australia, of course current ownership acquired it back in 2018 and they've been run, running it ever since.
1:13 And you know, doing a good job with it. It's, it's running well. Like obviously you know, the last few years have been tough as for many businesses in Australia with Covid, but you know, it's working through that now with a, with a lot of opportunities going forward.
1:26 Certainly. Sounds impressive, John, a 50 year history, you don't hear that very often. So what about the day-to-day operations? Is there a management team in place?
1:35 There is, yeah. They've got a, they've got a, got a a team of 14 in place there. Glen Glen Duggan is the, the director and the, and the main man that there, but he's got a good team behind him.
1:50 They've just changed premises into a new space, bit bigger space over at Nang. You know, so they've got plenty of room to, to grow and expand.
1:59 So people are going to be wondering what's the goal for the listing? Are they looking for a complete sale or are they're looking for somebody to come in and work with him as a partner or investor?
2:09 Yeah, definitely, definitely looking looking for a partner to come in. The ownership's willing to consider either a, you know, sophisticated silent investor or an an active working partner would be greatly appreciated, someone to come in and help with a bit of strategy and and execution
2:25 going forward. They've got two new product lines that are about, about to be launched mid-year which is good for an incoming partner and investor because all the, all the r and d all the research and development hard work's being done, and they're basically ready now to go to the 
2:41 market. So they're really looking for, for someone to come in board with a, with a bit of a capital injection and you know, realize those dreams with these new product lines going forward.
2:52 Okay, John, sounds great. So what is the opportunity here? What's the price range and what are they looking for? Is it a working partner, non-working partner, or are they just open to listening to what people wanna pitch to them?
3:06 Yeah, we, we'd consider all options there. We, we are looking to raise about 500,000 to, to achieve what we wanna achieve with the business willing to have a bit of a look at about a, a 25% equity share for that.
3:21 And that, and with that money, it'd really help 'em launch these new product lines as well as some good opportunities with new contracts both internationally and here in Australia that look quite lucrative.
3:34 So that looks like a really good opportunity to get involved in. As well as some bulk stock purchases and material purchases from offshore you know, with a bit of capital they can really take advantage of the lower cost purchasing, which will maximize profit going forward.
3:50 Yeah, I think that's really smart, John. I think leaving the options open to be either a passive or, or an active investor or partner in the business is really smart.
3:58 One of the questions we're still getting, even though Covid is behind us now, is what, what happened during Covid? Was there an impact on the business Really?
4:07 Yeah, it was impacted by Covid with shutdowns and things like that. They were, they were unable to obviously, you know, staff the, the manufacturing and things like that during that period.
4:15 So yeah, it did take a bit of a hit and you know, there was sort of a, a bit of a, a venture there with some wholesaling that didn't quite work out, so that was also during that time, which had a bit of a negative effect on it.
4:28 But look, it's come through it well let's moved through those issues strongly and, and looking towards the future. Now That makes a lot of sense.
4:35 And I believe every business that was going through that period either had a positive or negative COVID blip, thankfully, it's behind us now.
4:44 So looking forward, what have been the highlights of the business over more recent years? Yeah, Well, well definitely I think the highlights are it's history.
4:52 You know, like the, the Gold Coast here is synonymous with the, the water sports and the, the surf. And obviously you know, it's a, it's a big iconic brand here on the Gold Coast that's been around and withstood the test of time, many ups and downs during those cycles.
5:07 But you know, they've really tailored their process now like they've, these two new product lines look really good. You know, obviously we won't give too many details around here with confidentiality, but if interested parties want to contact us, we've got all these details to
5:23 show 'em here about these new product lines. So yeah, there's some new international contracts that I spoke of before that are in place are ready to go look at lucrative a well.
5:35 So they've done really well and I, I think the future looks pretty bright for 'em. Now, this could be hard, but if you had to pick one thing that was truly unique about this business, what would that be?
5:47 I, I, I think once again, you know, as I, I probably touched on before, but being on the Gold Coast, you know, it's a, it's really an iconic brand in, in the, the water, you know, the beach industry that, that's synonymous with the Gold Coast and, you know, been around for so long, 1969, you know, a
6:03 lot of people here on the Gold Coast know this business. And you know, it's, like I said, it's withstood the test of time.
6:09 It's, it's very rare that I come across any businesses with a, with a 50 plus year history. You just don't get them.
6:15 And you know, one thing, you know, when you've got a business that's been around for 50 years, it's, it's really endured many business cycles of ups and downs and it's, it's with withstood all that.
6:26 So I think now's a, a pretty good opportunity to get involved coming off, you know, covid and the problems of the past.
6:32 I, I think you know, it's withstood all that and it's still here, still got new product lines. They're, they're not resting on their laurels, they're innovating, still coming up with these new product lines and ready to move forward.
6:45 Okay. So we know what makes this business unique, but what do you see as the big opportunity going forward with this one?
6:51 Oh, I, I think there's a really big opportunity in a couple of the new contracting. There are, there are, they're a new line, a new avenue that's something they're not doing now, and it's a, a really solid business with good consistent minimum order levels going forward.
7:09 And the products look to have really good profit margins involved. So I think that's a really good opportunity for the business as well.
7:15 The other big one, yes, he's got the new product lines, but apart from that, I really think the ability to, to take advantage of a bulk stock purchase from overseas will really give a bump to profitability for the business.
7:29 Certainly sounds like a lot of opportunities there in this one. So what's next? How would a potential buyer, partner or investor get in touch with the business owner and discuss the opportunities here?
7:41 Yeah, I think just go to Allbiz deal room.com and you'll see the listing on there. And from there make contact with me and I'll put them in touch with the owners.
7:53 I think the, the best method is probably give us a call and you know, we can give a lot more detailed information over to them to review.
8:00 And I, I would really encourage interested parties to, to come and have a meeting with the owner cuz he's a very intelligent man and, and got a great passion for what he's doing and I think that'd be the best way for him to to really learn a lot about the opportunity.
8:17 Thanks for introducing this amazing opportunity to us, John. Now if you are listening to this podcast and you'd like to get involved head to our website at all biz deal room.com au and search for their listing name, a leader, that's Aleeda.
8:33 Now underneath the listing name, you'll find the contact representative in this case, it's actually the business owner themselves who you'll be discussing this with.
8:41 Thanks so much for listening in. My name's Matt Holland, I'm the founder of the Allbiz Deal Room, and I love to bring you these new opportunities and expose them to the, the greater public.
8:49 One thing I always found when I was buying, investing in businesses, there was no space like this, and that's why I've done this.
8:56 So feel free to have a look at our website and all the amazing listings and listening in to our other podcast.
9:02 Thanks again.