Hannah Barrett, pictured with her husband, All Black Beauden Barrett, brings social media marketing skills to the Me Today board. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Hannah Barrett, pictured with her husband, All Black Beauden Barrett, brings social media marketing skills to the Me Today board. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Grant Baker thinks NZX debutant Me Today has the potential to be the next Trilogy.
Baker who, along with business partner Stephen Sinclair and former Trilogy general manager Michael Kerr, own 60 per cent of the company, has high hopes for the tiny start-up.
Skincare company Trilogy - formerly Ecoyawhich was listed by Baker, Sinclair and Geoff Ross in 2010 - went from next to nothing to $120 million in turnover in just seven years.
"The intention is to do better than that - that's what we are going to try and do," Baker, who chairs the new company, told the Herald.
In 2018, Trilogy was sold to Citic Capital China Partners for $203m or $2.90 a share - a 28 per cent premium to its market price.
Brendan Lindsay, of Sistema fame, has a 12 per cent stake in Me Today, but Baker says Lindsay's involvement is incidental - the two have never met.
Me Today is the result of a reverse takeover by CSM - which was listed on the now-defunct junior board, the NZAX, before moving to the exchange's main board last July.
Backdoor listings such as the one employed by Me Today are sought because they don't require a prospectus and are cheaper than a standard listing on the NZX.
Me Today chairman Grant Baker. Photo / Natalie Slade
"Funnily enough, the timing was bad for lots of reasons but the Covid-19 thing has got people focused on their health and wellness, so potentially it is a good time to be in that business," Baker said.
He says the new retail skincare and vitamins business - like Trilogy - uses products that are based on natural ingredients. Its vitamin capsules are made from vegetable product.
After signing a deal last November with Green Cross Health, whose pharmacies include the Life Pharmacy chain, Me Today now sells in 220 stores.
The company is still in its infancy but Baker said the plan was to first establish the brand in New Zealand and then take it international.
"New Zealand is a good place to build the brand and there is a lot of credibility in brands that come from here," he said.
The company has ambitions for China, using the e-commerce contacts made in Baker's days with Trilogy, and then the United States.
Baker is also chairman of Turners Auctions - which listed via the ailing finance company Dorchester Pacific. Turners now employs 1000 people and has turnover of $330m.
He concedes that back door listings have a certain stigma attached, usually arising from lower disclosure requirements associated with them, but he said listing via CSM was a matter of convenience.
"It allowed us access to a listing for not much money."
Me Today was folded into CSM with a million dollars in cash "just to say that we are pretty focused and committed to this thing".
The business is now sitting on about $4m in cash.
Baker said the vitamins sector tended to be commoditised, and people tended not to buy brands.
"Not a lot of people are willing to set themselves apart and have a different proposition, so we are going quite hard on the branding side of things," he said.
Business partners Stephen Sinclair and Grant Baker. Photo / Greg Bowker
Hannah Barrett, wife of All Black Beauden Barrett, has been appointed to the board and Baker said she would bring social media marketing skills to the enterprise.
Barrett has a commerce degree and a background with PwC.
"She is quite big in the social media space with about 60,000-70,000 followers, with knowledge about that kind of marketing," he said.
Also on the board is Antony Vreins, a medical doctor.
Baker, who has been involved with several listed companies, including 42 Below, Salvus Strategic Investments and Moa Group, said he had become more conscious about health issues since surviving cancer 15 years ago.
"I'm pretty interested in health and wellness," he says.
