Acquisition Due-Diligence Dossier · Buy-side

TYDI

Home-based NZ online retailer of refurbished / box-damaged / end-of-line consumer electronics (Dyson-led). Sells via tydi.co.nz + Trade Me store. Offered by ABC Business Sales on a going-concern basis.
Asking price$150,000 + Stock at Valuation
Stock (liquidation / retail)$275k / $550k
3-yr avg SDE~$173,000
Accounts basis10mo to 31 Jan 2026, annualised
Verdict
Negotiate
w/ conditions
Update — financials received: three years of accountant P&Ls now verify the earnings. The "expense halving" was shareholder salary, not fiction — SDE reconciles at ~$172k across all three years (see Financials). The original skeptical read below stands as the record, but check (1) is now largely resolved.

Still: don't buy as offered. It's cheap (0.81× verified SDE goodwill) for a business throwing off ~$185k — a genuine motivated/health sale. The deal now turns on the two remaining checks: (1) does the Dyson/supplier contract assign to a new owner, and (2) is the stock worth what you'll pay — book cost is ~$228k vs the $275k ask, so consign, don't buy.
Two digital-channel deep-dives (separate workstreams).
SEO: organic collapsed ~99% (4,345→40 keywords) from a no-redirect Magento→Shopify migration — fixable; a price lever now & a recovery upside.  Paid: $0 on Google despite ~$23–30k/yr already on Trade Me promos + social — switch the cold high-intent channel on against ~12,000+ NZ "refurbished" searches/mo at cheap CPCs; a costed 6-month plan (~NZD $27.5k). Both sit squarely in Greg's wheelhouse.
SEO analysis → Google Ads plan →

1 Financial snapshot

Normalised accounts as presented in the IM (p.3). FY2026A is annualised from 10 months to 31 Jan 2026.
ItemFY2024FY2025FY2026A
Sales$683,855$779,492$793,914
Cost of sales$336,760$391,240$426,515
Gross profit$369,779$395,597$367,399
Gross margin %52.3%50.3%46.3% ↓
Operating expenses$369,225$395,598$182,700 ⚠
Net profit before dep'n$554–$1$184,699
EBPIDT / SDE$138,327$195,926$184,812

Revenue growth decelerating: +14.0% (FY24→25) then +1.9% (FY25→26A). Gross profit in FY26A is lower than both prior years despite higher sales — margin compression. IM footnote: accounts "do not separately break out depreciation, proprietor remuneration, or all balance sheet items."

2 Earnings quality — read before anything else

The valuation rests entirely on the SDE figure. Here's why it cannot be taken at face value.

① The expense tell

Opex sits at ~$370–395k in FY24/FY25, then halves to $182,700 in FY26A. That single move is what turns ~$0 net profit into $184,699. Most likely the owner's pay was left in expenses in prior years and stripped out in FY26A — inconsistent presentation, not a real cost cut.

② "GM: Nil supplied"

No cost was deducted for someone to run it. This is two working owners sourcing, refurbishing and listing 1,488 SKUs. The $184k isn't surplus profit — it's largely a wage for two people. Run it absentee and a manager's ~$80k drops real surplus to ~$95–105k.

③ Margin compression

GP% slid 52% → 50% → 46% and absolute gross profit is flat-to-down on rising sales. Classic signature of aging stock discounted harder to move it — directly relevant to what you're about to pay for inventory.

Bottom line: the ~$173k average SDE is internally consistent across three years, but the presentation is not. Reconcile it to tax returns, GST returns and bank statements before believing a cent of it.

3 Valuation & return scenarios

Goodwill ($150k) carries the earnings; stock is paid on top and is (in theory) a realisable asset. Total cash outlay ≈ $150k + stock (~$275k at liquidation) ≈ $425k.

If headline SDE is real

$150k goodwill ÷ $184,812
0.81×
Payback on goodwill ~10 months. Screaming buy — if it verifies & transfers.

Manager-adjusted (absentee)

Surplus ~$105k after a manager
~25%
Yield on ~$425k all-in. ~4-yr payback. Fine, not special.

If SDE / stock don't hold

Non-transferable moat, aged stock
Trap
~$425k for a job + a pile of depreciating electronics. Poor.
Benchmark: NZ owner-operated online/retail micro-businesses typically trade at 2–3× SDE. At 0.81× the goodwill is priced well below market — the risk here is not the multiple, it's whether the earnings and stock are what they're claimed to be.

4 Inventory — the second trap

Stock is additional and mandatory on top of $150k. The IM quotes liquidation $275k vs retail $550k — a built-in 50% haircut that tells you what this stock is really worth in a hurry. Refurbished / box-damaged / end-of-line electronics depreciate fast and go obsolete; a 1,488-SKU pile almost always hides meaningful dead stock. The declining gross margin is corroborating evidence that stock is getting harder to move.

Protection: independent stock-take at realisable value, exclude/discount aged & obsolete SKUs, pay cost-or-liquidation (never "retail"), and ideally take slow-moving stock on consignment / sell-through rather than cash up front.

5 Red-flag register

FlagSeverityWhy it matters
6-week ownership flip (IM p.10)HighVendors "acquired six weeks ago," now selling. FY24/25 accounts are the prior owner's — whose numbers is FY26A really?
Dyson "exclusive contract" transferabilityHighThis is the entire moat. If it doesn't assign to a new owner, you're buying a commodity reseller.
Owner-dependent sourcing know-howHighSupplier relationships & refurb process are personal — they can walk out at handover.
Channel concentration — three platform landlordsHighDyson (supply), Trade Me (incl. the new non-transferable API rule) and Google each control a leg of the business — any one can tax, throttle or evict. Diversify the channel mix; don't build hard dependencies on a single landlord.
Sourcing capability doesn't transfer; replacement-stock working capitalHighThe vendor's personal, undocumented sourcing skill is the real constraint — and it walks. Year-1 runs on the finite consigned pool, but from ~month 6 growth needs purchased replacement stock (~$50–100k ramp, sized off the stock list). Sourcing earnout + documented SOPs + replacement-supplier intros as DD conditions.
Inherited pre-settlement warranty liabilityMedPre-settlement sales carry the 12-month warranty; returns/claims land on the buyer. Quantify (claim rate × pre-settlement units) and fund a warranty escrow/holdback.
No written Greg–Dean operating agreementHighRoles, equity/profit split, decision rights and exit are in no document; the "demand engine is operator-supplied" mitigant makes the buyer the single key-person point of failure. Sign a written operating agreement before the offer.
Organic search collapsed −99% (un-redirected migration)High~1,800→13 visits/mo; the "organic" channel in the IM is effectively dead (recoverable). SEO analysis →
No balance sheet / working capital disclosedMedCan't assess liabilities, debtors, or true cash conversion.
Margin compressionMedPricing pressure / aging inventory, not a growth story.

6 Financial-health scorecard

DimensionGradeNote
Revenue trendC+Growing but decelerating (+14% → +1.9%)
Margin trendDGP% 52→46%; gross profit flat-to-down
Earnings level (SDE)B~$172k avg — verified across 3 yrs of accounts (see Financials)
Earnings transparencyDInconsistent expense presentation; addbacks not broken out
Balance-sheet disclosureFNone provided
Supplier concentrationDDyson-led; transferability unknown
Channel concentrationDThree landlords — Dyson, Trade Me & Google each control a leg
Organic / SEO channelF−99% from un-redirected migration — recoverable (see SEO deck)
Owner dependenceDTwo working owners; personal know-how
Inventory riskDRefurb electronics; 50% liquidation haircut
Ownership continuityD6-week flip; double ownership change
Deal pricing (headline)BCheap on multiple — but entirely conditional
OverallC−Conditional — verify the three pillars before proceeding

7 Recommended deal structure

Make any offer conditional on

1. Verified SDE — 24mo of tax returns, GST returns, bank statements & Trade Me / website sales reports must reconcile to ~$173–185k. If they only support ~$95–105k post-manager, reprice on that.
2. Supplier-contract assignment — Dyson & "exclusive" arrangements confirmed transferable in writing before settlement. If not → walk or treat goodwill as ~$0.
3. Independent stock valuation — realisable value, aged/obsolete SKUs excluded; pay cost-or-liquidation, never retail.

Protect yourself with

Vendor finance / earnout — push most of the $150k onto an earnout tied to SDE actually showing up over 6–12 months post-handover. Given the double-flip, this is your single best protection: if earnings walk out with the owners, you don't pay for them.
Restraint of trade on both vendors.
Real transition — 3–6 months hands-on handover, documented sourcing relationships.
Consignment on slow stock — don't tie up cash in dead inventory.
Strategic-fit caveat: this is a hands-on, inventory-heavy, owner-dependent physical-goods business — a long way from a digital-services / lead-gen / SaaS stack. Even if the numbers verify, the honest question is whether you want to own a Trade Me refurb operation, or just liked the look of a sub-1× multiple. Run absentee, ~$105k on ~$425k all-in (~4-yr payback, ~25%) is fine, not special — and carries every risk above.

8 Upside optionality — the brand-specialist play

Not in the base case — but a real, low-cost value-creation lever this acquisition uniquely enables.

TYDI's Dyson supply line and brand-segmentable customer database make it possible to launch focused single-brand specialist sites (Dyson first, Apple next) off one shared back-end. The shopper searching "refurbished Dyson NZ" wants a trusted specialist, not a big-box generalist — and no NZ-owned business owns that niche. Upside: stronger SEO than the generalist site (stuck at #27 for "dyson v8"), higher conversion, tighter ad ROAS, and a portfolio of individually-saleable brand assets.

The dependency — and it checks out: Google Ads permits a third-party refurbisher in NZ/AU to bid on brand keywords, use "Refurbished Dyson / iPhone" in ad copy (the reseller exception), and list genuine refurbished goods on Shopping — but the brand can't appear in the business name or domain (Apple is explicit; Dyson the same risk). Build own-brand sites with the brand as SEO focus, add "independent / not affiliated" disclaimers, and have NZ IP counsel sign off the name.
Why it's optionality, not the plan: sequence it — prove the core store and the Dyson site before replicating; don't let a brand-site land-grab dilute focus before the fundamentals bed in. Apple enforces aggressively even when you're compliant. Full play + compliance checklist: Brand Strategy.

9 Due-diligence document request

Hand this list to the broker (Paul Ding) before submitting any binding offer. No documents → no offer.
Financials
  • Full financial statements FY2024, FY2025 + 10mo FY2026 (not just the IM summary)
  • IRD income tax returns, 2 years
  • GST returns, last 8 periods
  • Bank statements, last 24 months
  • Reconciliation of the FY26A $182,700 expense line vs prior ~$390k
  • Add-back schedule with supporting detail
  • Balance sheet + aged creditors / debtors
Operations & assets
  • Dyson supply contract + written confirmation it assigns to a new owner
  • All other "exclusive / preferred" supplier agreements
  • Full stock list with cost, age & last-sold date per SKU
  • Trade Me & website sales reports, 24 months (units + $)
  • Traffic / channel split (organic vs Trade Me vs paid)
  • Google Search Console & GA4 access — manual-action status, indexing, organic revenue (see SEO deck)
  • Returns / warranty-claim rate & cost
  • Confirmation of why prior owner sold 6 weeks ago