Let’s Explore Group to rebrand as it explores £4m Huddled Group deal.
Let’s Explore Group is set to undergo another rebrand as it acquires North West e-commerce company, Huddled Group for £3.95m.
The firm, previously known as Immotion, is now set to become Huddled Group – providing the move is backed by shareholders.
Since it sold its Location Based Entertainment VR business earlier this year, it has around £6.8m of cash in hand as it focuses on its Home Based Entertainment operations.
It’s previously announced it was on the look out for acquisitions and said it saw “exciting growth potential” in Huddled, the owner of the Discount Dragon and BeerMonster brands.
There is also some synergy, given that the 2 companies share some directors, including Let’s Explore Group’s CEO, Martin Higginson, who is also Chair of Huddled Group.
Let’s Explore Group said it had entered into a “conditional sale and purchase agreement” for the company. This would involve an initial payment of £3,450,000 and a deferred payment of £500k in 2025.
Huddled was set up in 2020 in Lancashire, working with ecommerce brands and digital marketing.
Last year it acquired the business and assets of an ecommerce retailer and rebranded it as Discount Dragon – this has now become its sole trading business. The direct-to-consumer ecommerce operation focuses on the sale of branded FMCG – mainly surplus, end of line, mispackaged, and items close to best before dates at discounts.
Discount Dragon has seen significant growth in revenue from £75k in August 2022, the month of acquisition. To more than £450k in August 2023.
For the year ended 31 May 2022, Huddled recorded a loss before tax of £160k on revenue of £465k. In the year to 31 July 2023, Discount Dragon’s unaudited results showed an EBITDA loss of £0.7m on revenue of £3.3m.
Earlier this month Huddled acquired the assets (including the stock) of its main direct competitor, Motatos UK.
The company operates out of a leased warehouse in Leigh and employs 35 staff – 6 in management and 29 in warehouse functions.
Let’s Explore Group believe that the operation is scalable and can support in excess of 1000 orders a day and will start looking for a new warehouse facility in 2024.
“We believe the acquisition of Huddled will be transformational for the Group and further strengthens our e-commerce position. The growth in Discount Dragon, over the last 12 months has been exciting and we can see with additional capital, the opportunity to drive growth quickly and a clear route to profitably, The market for discounted groceries has never been more relevant and we’re excited as to what the future holds and are confident that we can drive value for shareholders.”
