Purplebricks announced an operating loss of £52.3m and this morning said it is to withdraw from the US. It is already closing its Australian business.

The group’s operating loss is up 88% from £27.8m last year, and comes despite group revenue up by 55% to £136.5m, with UK revenue up 21% to £90.1m.

Its pre-tax losses of almost £56m (£55,954,000) were up from over £29m (£29,190,000).

The online agent said that in the UK – where it describes itself in today’s results as a “category killer” – it made an operating profit of £5.3m, and said it has 76% of the online market share.

It also said that average revenue per instruction in the UK was up 6% to £1,243 in the year to April 30, and that it had completed on £10.4bn worth of UK property, saving customers £77m in commission.

Group chief executive Vic Darvey, who took over from co-founder Michael Bruce who quit the business in May, said: “It’s been another year of strong revenue growth and we continue to build a highly relevant disruptive brand and defensible position in the market.

“With a base of clear brand leadership in both the UK and Canada and a differentiated, technology-led proposition driving business model advantages, we now have a clear plan to unlock the next wave of growth and extend our market leadership.

“We have taken the difficult decisions to exit our businesses in both Australia and the US as it is very important that we now focus our resources on the UK and Canada, where we have a strong established presence and where there are significant opportunities to grow market share and deliver profitable growth for shareholders.

“Both exits will be conducted in an orderly manner with the expectation they will be completed by the end of 2019.”

The closure of its Australian business is resulting in an impairment charge of almost £41m (£40,837,000). In the US, the impairment charge is put at £53m (£53,082,000).

Purplebricks also said this morning that in the five years since it launched in the UK, “we have fundamentally changed the estate agency market”.

It said that its technology-led proposition would drive profitable growth “and enable us to take market share from traditional agents”. It reiterated its ambition to take 10% of the overall UK market, saying that it already had brand awareness of 96%, and a brand more familiar to UK consumers than any other estate agent brand.

Purplebricks said that its model is a clear “category killer”, and that it remains hugely focused on becoming the only place customers go to buy, sell and let their homes.

It added: “We are always available when most high street agents still stick to office hours.”

Purplebricks said that in the UK it sold – meaning SSTC, not exchanged or completed – 3.5 times more properties than the next largest agent.

In Australia and the US, Purplebricks has had to admit defeat. In Australia the business is being run down and closed, with a reported 800 properties in its portfolio, down from 1,000 listings a fortnight ago.

In the US, it said that while there is a “significant” opportunity to disrupt the market, “it would take substantially more management time and resources” than it could commit.

Group chairman Paul Pindar said this morning there would be no dividend.

City analyst William Packer of Exane BNPP said that Purplebricks’ UK revenue was 3% below what had been expected, adding that its disruptive business model “has taken some knocks but continues to grow market share in the UK albeit at a much reduced rate”.

Yesterday, Purplebricks shares ended 4% down on the day at 93p. In the first hour of trading today, they picked up almost 4%, to 96.5p.