‘Resilient’ Purplebricks ready to focus on UK

Vic Darvey

Estate agency Purplebricks has branded “resilient” its full-year results this morning (August 3).

For the year-ending 30 April, Purplebricks saw revenues fall by 2% to £111.1m, while the firm’s total loss for the year was £19.2m (2019: £54.9m).

The firm, which recently sold its Canadian business, said its strategic focus is now “fully on the UK”.

Purplebricks said that despite the market “rebounding strongly”, post-lockdown, the outlook for the second half of 2020 “remains uncertain”.

Vic Darvey, chief executive, said: “This year has seen some very difficult market conditions with political and economic uncertainty dominating the landscape as a result of both Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite all of this, I’m pleased to say that we saw a resilient performance, with revenue decline of only 2% across the Group.

“This year has seen significant change for the Group, shifting our strategic focus back to the UK market and ensuring that we have a strong platform for growth. As a result, we are now emerging through the COVID-19 pandemic in a very strong position.

“We exited the US and Australian markets, recently disposed of our Canadian business, and we’ve sharpened our focus on instilling financial discipline and operational excellence across the business. Alongside that, we’ve put in place a new and highly experienced digital leadership team.

“Despite the challenges of COVID-19, our strategic initiatives are being delivered at pace to accelerate our digital and data capabilities, and with a very healthy net cash balance of £66m, I’m confident that we can take advantage of the changing landscape.

“The Group is encouraged by the early signs of the housing market rebounding well following the lifting of the lockdown and the Government’s Stamp Duty holiday.

“We strongly believe that, in the current market, technology led estate agency is starting to emerge as the winning model and there is clear evidence that consumers are increasingly shifting towards apps and tech-based alternatives. With our strengthened leadership team and balance sheet, we are in a strong position to accelerate our model, extend our market share and grow our value-add revenues.”

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