Multimillion-pound share award for Purplebricks chiefs
The chief executive and the finance boss at online estate agency Purplebricks have been awarded shares worth more than £3m as part of its rewards scheme.
CEO Vic Darvey has been granted 2.5m shares while Andy Botha, who joined the business in May following the resignation of James Davies, has received 1.7m shares.
Purplebricks’ share price closed on Friday at 73p, valuing the share awards at £1.8m and £1.24m respectively.
The group’s shares have endured a torrid few years after touching 500p-per-share in July 2017. A series of profit warnings, retrenchments and changes in strategy saw it tumble, eventually reaching an all-time low of 22p in mid-March as Covid-19 panic hit the markets.
It has rallied in the last five months, more than trebling in value, but it remains below the 100p+ levels it traded at in early 2020.
The share awards come shortly after the Solihull-based business hailed “resilient” full-year results for the 12 months to the end of April, which saw revenues fall by 2% to £111.1m, while the firm’s total loss for the year was £19.2m.
Purplebricks said that despite the market “rebounding strongly”, post-lockdown, the outlook for the second half of 2020 “remains uncertain”.
In July, the company announced the sale of its Canadian business for £35m, ending its unsuccessful attempts at international expansion.
It exited its Australian and American operations during a turbulent 2019 which also saw the departure of its founder Michael Bruce.
The sale of its Canadian business came despite Darvey saying last July that it was “very important that we now focus our resources on the UK and Canada”.
But 12 months later the group agreed the sale to cooperative financial group Desjardins.
The disposal of its DuProprio and Purplebricks Canada operations (PBDP) means it is now entirely UK-focused.
The group has been through a restructuring plan since incurring losses of £56m, a process which led to the exit of its co-founder and former chief executive Bruce.
