Vic Darvey has resigned as chief executive of Purplebricks.
The online estate agency has just announced that Darvey informed the board of his decision to leave the company due to personal circumstances.
Darvey will leave Purplebricks at the end of March following which Helena Marston, currently chief operating officer, will become CEO, effective from 4 April, subject to the completion of the customary due diligence checks required by the AIM Rules.
His resignation follows a rather turbulent period for the online estate agency, caused in part by regulatory failings.
EYE revealed in November that Purplebricks had failed to properly serve legally required documents to tenants explaining their deposits have been put into a national protection scheme.
The agency accepts that there could be future claims against the firm, and provisionally estimates a potential financial risk.
Purplebricks, who are currently facing a class action lawsuit from over 100 former agents who believe they were entitled to the benefits given to permanent employees, despite being classed as self-employed, was recently forced to delay the publication of its first half results to provide for any potential future claims which could arise under the Housing Act in relation to this regulatory process issue.
The decision to delay publication of the first half year results followed speculation that the online estate agency could potentially face a bill of up to £30m after it allegedly put thousands of landlords at risk of being because it failed to follow basic tenancy law.
Purplebricks, which also reported recently that trading conditions have been “challenging”, is currently being investigated by Propertymark for potential tenancy law breaches.
The firm’s share price stands at a near record low of just over 14 pence at the moment.
Purplebricks says that Darvey has led Purplebricks through a period of considerable change, the Covid-19 pandemic and a business transformation since joining in January 2019 and taking over as chief executive in May 2019.
The company adds that he oversaw the exit from the group’s loss-making international operations as well as the implementation of a new operating model for the UK business.
Marston has worked closely with Darvey on the strategy and new business model as well as implementing a number of the performance improvement initiatives.
Paul Pindar, chairman of Purplebricks, commented: “On behalf of the Board I would like to thank Vic for his leadership, energy and commitment to Purplebricks. He has guided the business during a period of considerable change and challenge, including building a strengthened senior leadership team focused on our tech-led growth. We understand and respect his personal reasons for leaving and wish him the very best in the future.
“I am delighted to welcome Helena to the Board. Helena has shown impressive leadership since joining the Executive Leadership Team and been responsible for implementing a number of our strategic initiatives. I am confident she will drive the necessary performance improvements that are underway and deliver the growth ambitions of the Company.”
Darvey said: “It has been a privilege to lead this business over the last three years. While I am sorry to be leaving at this stage in the Company’s transformation, we have a great team in place and a clear plan which I have every confidence Helena will deliver. I wish everyone at Purplebricks a happy and successful future.”
Marston added: “I am excited to be given the opportunity to lead Purplebricks in the next phase of our journey. We have a fantastic brand and a great opportunity to accelerate our growth, providing the best experience for customers. I would also like to extend my best wishes to Vic and wish him well for the future.”
Comments (29)
I’m sure the truth will out as it invariably does in the fullness of time
in the meantime -HR running a company -perfect !
If you want to change an industry you need to at least know a little about it. There’ s no place at the top for those with no experience, in this industry or any other. All the best Vic. It isn’t your vault, it’s those who hired you.
Personal circumstances – AKA underperforming and out of his depth running a broken business model.
Equally there are families at the end of other estate and letting agents where PB have tried to take the business away from.
PB have undercut but given shoddy service and made fun of the competition. So when it appears that they may well have broken employment laws, tenancy deposit laws and really are a bunch of cowboys is it no wonder that we have a bit of a chuckle at their misfortune and those running it?
All agents try to take other agents business.
All ……. Do they really!
People comments never cease to amaze me !
There is a person on the other end of this, a family.
Would you like the same said about a member of your family who has personal reasons?.
How about maybe for once supporting someone?.
YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED !.
It comes as a result of PB and Vic Darvey’s disdain for estate agents and the industry’s regulators, whose rules PB chooses to continually ignore.
And what about the ordinary folk up-and-down the country who are obliged to pay thousands of pounds to PB whether they generate sale or not? They don’t all have cushy CEO jobs with ‘golden handcuff’ deals.
Ashamed of Bedfordshire, he knew what he was doing and did it just long enough to cash in his shares, you need to move in to the real world, EthicalAgent2022 (suppose the clue is in the name)
no malice intended…………………….
You are right there is a family on the end of this.
Which one do you refer to? The public (including sellers, buyers, landlords and tenants), PB employees (sorry Self employed), PB investors and all those people within and connected to the industry that this organisation and leader have had a negative part in.
“It has been a privilege to lead this business over the last 3 years”
when was it you can cash in your shares Vic, oh yeah 3 years
Drip, drip … the end is near.
You can’t blame the man -who appointed someone to run a new estate agency model that had zero estate agency experience
When will they learn ?
A good opportunity to someone to snap up the brand for a bargain price -maybe an Estate Agency !?
Yes, Vic did badly, but could anyone else have done any better? The self-employed poisiton was dubious to say the least and I am sure at board level at some point this would have to be resolved and would be both expensive and painful.
The model needs to change to 1% flat fee, something they have been planning for some time. As for the share price, with Axel as the only real player in town, it is in there interest for the price to tank further before they make their move, best to spend at little on the acquisition as possible.
I do not get the obsession with PB that PIE and many others seem to enjoy.
You would if you had been around when the Bruce’s started this venture and all the shenanigans that followed to this day. Not a very impressive CV.
I was around as a developer.
There have always been cheap agents.
Always will be.When PB go someone else will replace PB.
I do not worry about things I cannot affect.
They are not just cheap … a long list of how not to behave.
This is a good point. It really needs a visionary and fixer who has a credible plan for who to change the business. As I’ve written here before I think the only route is either a firesale or a take-private.
At this rate Purplebricks will have had more chief executives than percentage share of the market
And his replacement is someone else with zero agency experience, you couldn’t make it up. Interesting times to come.
Vic Darvey was an ‘Alison Platt’ – with no understanding of estate agency and it’s nuances.
There’s nothing positive to say about his leadership and his leaving will just reinforce the arrogance of upper management who will all just hang in there for a salary. They’ll have nowhere to go, with some leaving and coming back because they couldn’t hack a real job.
and the purple domino bricks keep falling
The litmus test will be how the stock market reacts – will this boost share price or leave investors fed up? We will see shortly.
Nice comment from Mr Pinder, but has Vic really ‘guided the business during a period of considerable change and challenge?’ If so, it seems he has guided it downwards. That said, I reflect the sentiment above and sincerely hope his personal circumstances are not serious.
So much that could be said, along the lines of completely mis-understanding a business and sending it in directions leading to its eventual destruction. Even Now the board seen to think that this is a ‘Tech’ company and that it needs ‘Performance Improvement initiatives’ so clearly still no understanding of what the business was meant to be or how it operated successfully. Trying to manipulate what was a network of very successful local independent estate agents in to a single controllable national estate agency business is not possible.
‘Personal Circumstances’ could very well be serious/family related. You never know what people are going through. There is a difference to ‘playing the ball and playing the man.’
Didn’t they leave some time ago?
Rats-ship !
Back in July 2021:-
Purplebricks has granted its two most senior figures ‘golden handcuff’ deals totalling nearly a million shares in the hybrid estate agency. CEO Vic Darvey has been granted 735,437 ‘option’ shares while CFO Any Botha has been awarded 307,500. Both ‘awards’ and can be cashed in after three years subject to continued employment and performance based on the company’s relative total shareholder return and EBITDA.
Looking distinctly like Vic could not buy that much cheese with his options.