Purplebricks is due to post losses of £51m, a newspaper has forecast.
The Sunday Telegraph said that the loss, for the 12 months to the end of April, will be unveiled when Purplebricks reports its results on Wednesday.
The ‘underlying pre-tax’ loss compares with £26m for the year before.
According to the Telegraph, the near-double loss comes after a “failed assault” on the Australian market and troubles in its American business, which has been under review.
However, says the newspaper, the company is “theoretically profitable” in the UK.
The founders, brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce, have both left the business. Michael Bruce, who was also global chief executive, has been replaced by Vic Darvey, formerly managing director of Moneysupermarket.
The Bruces have sold their shares in Purplebricks to German publishing giant Axel Springer, now Purplebricks’ largest investor with a 27% holding.
Purplebricks has also been caught up in the woes of fund manager Neil Woodford, formerly the company’s biggest investor with a stake of some 29%. He has cut his holding to around 21.5%, finding willing buyers in Merian and Toscafund.
Purplebricks shares closed on Friday at 99p, below the £1 launch price back in 2015.
Comments (42)
Sub 50p a share in the next week?
Distinct lack of quacking in this thead – had the PB duck left the building?? 😉
It’s commonly believed that the dodo went extinct because Dutch sailors ate the beast to extinction after finding that the bird was incredibly easy to catch due………
Just add in Duck, estate agents and add fear of always being caught wrong.
Prophet :
June 26: 7days to go before the Purple Bricks shares rocket north.
Lol.
…….maybe he posted that from Oz as their North is our South.
……picking up on Duckphobia
When I think of PB LPE….
my Coulrophobia starts
You guys are pretty pathetic really. Do you stop to think before posting that behind PB are real people, with families to support and Bills to pay. No wonder the public think All estate agents are w*****s. Reading though these comments looks like the public were 100% right. You should all be ashamed of yourselves
DoSomeWork I understand your point, however PB have built a brand by hammering estate agents, do you really expect that when the truth comes out, and its all just a farce that the very people they have been hammering are going to have a huge amount of sympathy? Did PB consider the High street agents, and real people working within them when trying to dumb down the business?
The question you should be asking is did the Bruce brothers think about its people before jumping a sinking ship? of course they didnt,they were only ever in it to con the public out of money for doing very little, pull the wool over everyones eyes, make some cash and get out.
All I ever hear recently from any customer of an upfront do nothing agent, is regret and anger at feeling duped into paying for nothing, but does anyone from these agents feel sorry for them? No the LPE has their money so why care?
Very soon, the “public” that you speak of, will be very angry, as more and more skeletons come out of the closet about what happens when you pay upfront for nothing. Anyone with a portion of common sense working for PB would be out by now along with the Bruce’s
PB have actually proven to be all that the public dislike about so called estate agents. Wasn’t it KB who claimed on radio he would like to see all high street agents go under? and you expect them to roll over when they see all things wrong about a company damaging their industry with propaganda and no reality.
It is tremendously sad for those people who were indoctrinated into the PB cult and who through no fault of their own will find themselves in difficulty when this really starts to implode. The people that yourself and others in this position should be angry with are the Bruce brothers who have seized upon an opportunity to milk the general public for all they are worth. The anger and a little bit of ‘I told you so’ shown on this forum and others is a direct result of a 5 year smear campaign instigated from the very first PB advert to discredit and destabilize the entire industry for no other purpose than to line the pockets of the few. If the service had been up to scratch and PB really had found the key to offering a great service to the customer at a discount price then hats off to them. They haven’t.
Michelle is awfully quiet today perhaps the heat from weekend has got to her. Either that or she is quickly updating her CV
Her recent appearances have been a day or two after an article appears by when it is likely that activity in the comment section has died down or ceased. Perhaps she needs a day or two to get up a good head of steam or a consume a few drinks to get the vitriol flowing!
From her comments I just assumed she was more active in the evenings, once the white lightening has really kicked in.
Who hasn’t noticed that the city has dropped PB, customer reviews are starting to show the real story, the insiders (LPE’s) are telling a different story to the public relations hype, the 96% public have stayed away from ALL on-liners and after 6 years and meggar £m’s in promotion PB covering nationwide is a flop, had their knuckles wrapped more than once and fined for misleading and are taking consumers money not matter what. How can that be a success? The longer it goes on, the bigger the cracks appear and the consumer can makes its own mind up … As a business model it should fail just as all the other have done, once the investors cut and run.
Starting to hear more and more buyers moaning about trying to get viewings on PB properties, without success, or turning up to a low price house (needing work) full of so many viewers that if it were a nightclub it would breach health and safety,
Also vendors moaning about viewing bookings not turning up.
BSOS23PC
Time to say it again,
BSOS23PC
quack quack!!
Five little ducks went swimming one day over the hills and far away and …………………….. only 4 came back
Four little ducks…………………
Gone before Xmas. Losing £1million a week after 6 years. What a success story.
Australia 815 properties with 84 agents still .
They must have been incentivised to remain but what are they actually doing but trying to chase a few deals through. Surely it must come to a point soon where it will be worth Bricks paying agents to take the instructions off their hands? and wrap the whole thing up .
£10m closure costs -just a guess???
N America
With Canada as a sweetner maybe Michael Bruce will take this over for next to nothing – gratis? Perhaps CEO Eric Eckardt who is already recruiting Bricks LPEs for his new venture .
Kenny already announced he has a new venture .
One common thread here -a loyal lot aren’t they! Taking one for the team was certainly something they were always going to avoid
Everyone’s had their profit and exited, a while back, so do you think they care? #otherpeoplesmoney
It’s a classic “PR smokescreen”, get the big number loss out early to take some of the sting out of likely share price hit and cover it off with “but we’re really doing well in the UK”.
They are a ticking bomb, waiting to financially implode. The volume isn’t there. Purplebricks continues to stumble along with their psuedo property sales….
( we are just like estate agents – NO, YOU ARE NOT! You are an imitation McPurplebricks, vastly overcharging for your Virtual Property Burger! )
….the more the consumer realises the inferior service, the PB cash burn continues to try and fuel this virtual commisery along, it will fizzle out.
Over 96% of UK property market New Instructions remain with UK High Street/Local Estate Agents …..despite Millions & Millions & Millions of Purplebricks Commisery Cash Burn/Fake Publicity/Managed? Reviews…..
I know this….. any good High Street/Local Estate Agent will wipe the floor with PB.
Shame the consumer isn’t being protected by which?, asa, rightmove, etcetc .
Payanyway should be illegal. It only benefits the company not the consumer.
Just curious, how is it a “classic PR smokescreen” if it was a forecast by The Telegraph?
Ok, pull up a chair…..
In order to hide that their UK business is going to crash & burn, you leak the financial disaster that is Purplebricks US/Australia in advance and use that to soften the impact of the actual City Announcement on Wednesday….. in reality you are creating a “smokescreen” around the big numbers disaster, when in fact the real story is that Purplebricks UK is FAILING to make any meaningful impact on the UK Property Market, it is merely listing property with payment upfront and then failing to deliver a meaningful service/result for its customers.
Purplebricks have as much credibility as a fake Donald Trump at a Fake Donald Trump rally ……as they still dodge, divert, refuse to provide Independent/Verifiable Numbers on actual Properties Sold that have Exchanged or Concluded and the Seller/Vendor has actually received the Sale Proceeds – versus all that “Loot” taken upfront for NO Result!
As always with the real performance numbers from Purplebricks …….its NOT what they say that matters, its what they DON’T SAY that matters.
Now excuse me ……I’ll crack on marketing/selling clients properties on my time honoured “No Sale – No Fee” basis – call me Old Fashioned however I believe in actually charging when I deliver!
So how much longer do they give it?
Considering they have been trading for 6 years now, spent hundreds of millions to grab a VERY small % of the UK and failed miserably in US and Oz.
After ousting the ‘Brothers Bruce’ you must think Axel have a plan. Two years perhaps?. In that time i do not see the UK market getting any stronger and after having their fingers burnt in foreign markets i doubt they will look at further global expansion.
I can only assume that the leadership team at PB feel they can merge with a leading high street agent. Connells have tried this and failed. LSL have Yopa so does this mean the beligured CW with their own issues will see this opportunity to save their share price and reassert market dominance?
I think this must be on the cards CW and PB merger. It makes sense that the two failing business can prop each other up until the market ‘turns’ and then they can move forward.
…you must be looking at your CW shares sp, hoping for a windfall?
I must admit did cross my mind!
However, I cant see any other alternative for either company. CW is a busted flush and PB will continue to hemerage money and need to change the narrative as ‘Cheap’ is not working. Especially now Housesimple have stolen that USP by doing it for free.
…..an honest answer sp.
I left enough money in shares with CW that I could afford to write-off, and teach me that the stock market is not for me!
Thankfully I cashed enough in before 12p became 4p, otherwise I would be grumpier than normal.
Imagine the size of Housesimple’s losses next time they report.
Nothing to worry about if you are a first rate agent.
If however your a Lexpert then working 70 hours a week following a trail of breadcrumbs must be a huge worry.
The attrition rate of Lexperts will be a problem now they are being burdened with more and more work.
As soon as they pull out of America they’ll just focus on the UK where they make profit. I’m not sure why people think they’re going under. The money they’re burning is overseas trying to gain traction, but they already have that traction in UK.
The only have traction due to massive advertising spend. They are reigning this back to due cash flow problems, and with it comes less awareness. Whether they are actually making a profit in the UK is very subjective, but if they are it is minimal and as the market starts to toughen up vendors will be less inclined to part with their £1500 upfront when their home may not sell.
agent37
-They are down to their last £61million as at 30th April.
– Exiting Oz and USA will cost millions.
– Woodford is in trouble and will probably offload his remaining shares.
– Axel Springer will ride to the rescue after 6th July (when they can offer on remaining shares cheaply).
– The Purple People Cult will be culled and Teutonic discipline and efficiency will be imposed.
What do you think will happen to the supposed traction in the UK?
You are a fool if you think they are going to fold.
Where does it say that I think that ?
The fools will be investors who throw more money at this business, which is currently aimed at the limited FSBO market, expecting a return.
Axel Springer will have their own ideas as to how PB should operate in the future.
Their market share is shrinking. #PURP is Picking up a slightly larger share of the call-centre sector but overall sector has shrunk by 1.39% from a high of 5.19% in May 2019 (data from TheAdvisory)
EBITDA figures can reveal profits- but not real ones. This is a mechanism applied primarily for funding purposes. PB has never delivered a real profit in any country they operate in and are quite a way from doing so just yet. PB aren’t going to vanish from the UK any time soon but have a long and hard-fought battle ahead of them for several years (if not a decde+) to start achieving real profits- and then they will just have historical losses to make up for which, by then, will almost certainly exceed £100m. Genuinely wouldn’t be surprised to see an investor acquire (increase to) a controlling stake in both PB & CW, take them private and try and establish themselves from there away from the prying eyes of being a Plc.
THE TROLLER’ S ARMS
**Today’s Specials**
Shredded Peeking Duck
or
Stewed Dominican Chicken
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Propheteroles with Buddhascotch Sauce
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Selection of Whines from Lockwood
**Bon Appetit**
OMG Ostrich17 you’re hilarious!
I am currently raising money to help sufferers of Anatidaephobia – please give generously to my gofundme page !
A fear of being watched by Ducks? This is about as surreal as PIE gets!
Boooooom!!!
is there a running total for all the losses each year for Pbricks?