easyProperty could float on the stock market next year.
The company, headed by Robert Ellice and which uses Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s “easy” brand, could join this year’s other big newcomer, Purplebricks.com, on the stock exchange as Eye reported last month.
easyProperty launched less than two months ago on September 17 after rounds of fund-raising pitches valuing it at some £66m.
Yesterday, the Sunday Express reported that easyProperty could use a stock market flotation to fund its international expansion.
The paper said that the firm could also sell a minority stake to venture capital investors to raise cash.
‘Rob Ellis’ (as the Express called him), easyProperty’s chief executive, told the paper: “We may look to float at the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016, or a stake sale, to fund growth. In either case we would retain a majority stake.”
Yesterday, easyProperty was displaying a number of rental properties, including 82 in London, six in Birmingham, six in Manchester, six in Leeds, and one in Brighton.
Ellice talked to Eye in detail about his plans shortly before the launch.
The Express report is here
Comments (33)
Dear Sirs
I have used the word 'Property' in my branding for a considerable number of years and take issue with the fact that it is being associated with the word 'EASY' as this implies 'property' is of questionable virtue.
I take the protection of my brand very seriously and must insist that EasyProperty immediately remove the offending word from all of your marketing and branding.
Chris Wood
@PDQProperty
It would be good to know what amount of due diligence is able to be taken place by would be investors at the crowd funding stage.
Some have invested on the back of a back of a *** packet valuation of £66m – which is just plain silly.
Look, I know @easychris is the only one from there we hear from and I don't need to talk about his credibility amongst us lot do I? however, they have a year to turn it from a new start with a brand that appears to be banging the granny out of Gumtree listings (over 100,000 properties to rent on there) to get some stock listed to a big player, (200 odd listings wont do it) with a decent lump of the market and be able to show they can grow. Its no secret that I don't think they will do it but apart from @easy Chris there surely has to be some clever people behind it that will know how to do it so we will see in a year, it will either be a spectacular failure or an epic success……………or fizzle out with some excuses / no straight answers to the people that lost out – Jonnie
"see in a year, it will either be a spectacular failure or an epic success……………or fizzle out with some excuses" ……you would make a brilliant analyst Jonnie!
The really concerning thing is they are like Lemmings!?…….. it just demonstrates how persuasive the Stock Market Bunnies from Here Today Gone Tomorrow Brokers are…… well, I've just built myself a house today and it's worth 1 million however I got an analyst in and he valued it at 10 million, then someone who wants to build the same house and they valued it at 50 million, then finally a broker who said it could be worth a 100 million……. roll up, roll up…..pop your money through my letterbox! It truly defies belief that they can launch these balloons and folk line up to invest money!…..hell mend them…. real regulation to prevent this overinflated nonsense is long overdue…….especially when one now sees what the average mortgage applicant has to go through to get a mortgage! I would like to buy a house……right sir/madam, please sit down….now I will need to saw one of your limbs off as security…… and on the other side of town….Hi, I want to invest in an Online Property Business/Portal……. right sir/madam….. how big is your vehicle?…my vehicle?!….. yes, Range Rover, BMW etc?….why?…..well I just need to see how much cash I can fit in it for you! Bonkers!
I'm not really sure you can ask for "real regulation" in this sector just because you don't like, or don't rate an idea/company. The stock market (procedure wise) is very regulated. If people want to invest in a company it's down to them….just the same as you putting a few quid on a horse. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose………and often the favourite in a horse race is beaten by an rotten nag with no form at all! Easyproperty so far have raised a lot of private equity money so there is no reason why they couldn't raise more by a float. I do think, however, they need to re direct their dislike of High St agents and re-channel it into positive marketing of their own product though. I think a lot of the "anti" posts to this article today will be from those who are a tad jealous that they have worked for many years building their businesses only to find that johnny come lately e property companies can potentially make millions with an "idea" rather than many years of graft.
@wilko…. I struggle with the concept of how the current and future value of these companies is either calculated ( and I use that word loosely ) or simply plucked out of the air. When one sees the detail in a financial advisors file now to ensure/prove they gave best advice to a client….. is there the same requirements when it comes to perceived company valuation?…..I honestly think not however as it's not a circle which I regularly move in I would defer to those that have actual knowledge and are motivated by professionalism and not the quickest route to the fastest buck. I do agree however that it is in many respects akin to betting on horses.
"I struggle with the concept of how the current and future value of these companies is either calculated ( and I use that word loosely ) or simply plucked out of the air." I struggle as well, but I don't go into it in that much depth. Most of us that made a quick buck out of buying and selling our cheap Zoopla shares, couldn't see the value…..but knew there was a buck to be made short term. I didn't look at the last 20 years of the Post Office accounts before signing up to buy as many shares as possible…….it just seemed like everyone was saying it was a good idea to buy! A bit like when I invested in "lastminute.com" at their launch ………and wasn't as successful!. It's all about the ability to create the idea that a company is doing well, or capable of doing well in the future, even if it's not…..or not likely to.
And there's the problem…… one big gravy train and most folk look the other way….. handbag ******, look the other way….car accident, look the other way…. fire alarm?, climb over the people in front of you! I make a good living without sh@fting people…… unfortunately the analysts, brokers, profit takers are just in it for themselves….. at least The British Army and Allies turn up decade after decade and get on with it…. otherwise there would be Swastikas flying over London. The profit makers may take a different view if they had to risk getting their keyboard hand blown off! Trust?…..it's an alien principle for some!
…..I should qualify, seems that…… many…….of the analysts, brokers and profit takers are in it for themselves……and back we go to the great property/economy crash…… and the door quietly closes as they slip away……Fred?….Fred?…..Fred!……are you there?…….Yes Darling!…….. I'm just counting my money!….or should that be their money?
Seems to me that you understand the stock market more than you initially let on with these last 2 posts!
I say good luck if they can do it…..they certainly haven't made any in-roads so far which is probably due lack of funding (for the size of the project, along with improvements needed to the site) so more money is definitely required. I think that their current cashflow could be an issue however. The fact is that there is room for a "total self sell" portal in the medium/long term future (the Ebay for property) means that there will be a few companies that will pursue this path (with, no doubt plenty of investors). They will have to be quick as there is always the strong possibility that Zoopla may use their "already known" position to exploit the potential of future "self sellers"
Valuation is a matter for the City. 'Potentia'l will be the one factor which is impossible to measure, however I am sure the values of IPO's such as Martin & Co, Foxtoms & Belovoir will set some benchmark. Any investor will look for a return on their money and expect their investment to increase. To do so, you need not only a track record but demonstrable growth. It will be very interesting. I didn't expect EP to secure the funding they did via Crowd Cube, so 1-0 to them. And, if successful, what does that do the value of other businesses? Adam from Hatched will be ordering his super yacht as Sarah Beeny buys a small island she can renovate for a new channel 4 series
I would agree with you Eric about eP. I didn't think they would get that much money either, but actually I suppose PurpleBricks had done them the biggest favour of all by attracting some heavy weight hitters. Its interesting that no one else has. This press release is a toe in the water, eP in my opinion have a ridiculous business model and one that can't make enough money and by the time they go for a stock market listing will have a poor trading record. Interesting you mentioned Hatched though, they I believe are one of the big losers in the online only battle and their future now lies in a merger/buyout. Adams been very quiet recently: Hatched and Emoove in merger talks perhaps?
Without Rightmove or Zoopla. Easy and Purple wouldnt work. The main portals surely are biting the bulk of the hands that are feeding them.
Trevor, why is it the responsibility of a a pair of websites to sort the industry out. To put it quite bluntly if you lose business to an online agency you haven't proved to the vendor that your worth spending money on… It really is as simple as that
Sorry Danny, you have missed the point….the online agencies couldn't operate without RM/Z and they, in turn, couldn't operate without high st traditional agencies (as they put in 98% of the stock). In short you wouldn't ever lose business to an online agent if they weren't allowed on either of the main sites……because they wouldn't exist! This is the mistake that RM/Z have made…..as it will cost, between them, in the region of £20-£25Million p/a in lost advertising revenue ,come January.
.. And High street agents in turn couldn't operate without vendor stock, and the vendors couldn't operate without food and water… My point is this economy is what we call a free market . This means that people have choice … It's not china . We can't say "how dare these people do something different , let's have chairman Mao kill them all" the moment you start to ask a business to regulate an industry you have yourself a large problem
But I haven't suggested a business should regulate any industry? Just that a seller is unlikely to place their property on the market with an agent who wasn't on Rightmove or Zoopla.
Agreed, but I don't see how Rightmove or Zoopla can be held to distinguish between agency models . I see online as just more competition. If they want to advertise alongside me in the places I advertise then so be it. I need to justify to a vendor why I'm worth more than £699 and a bag of nuts ….
If you are the King's new tailor hoping to flog copies of the latest and finest robes, best you do so while the hype is good and all the suckers think they will look fine and dandy. If they hang around long enough to reinforce why online agency is only good for micro-niche selling, no-one will invest.
Very good point Benay, but I can remember when ebay was a niche market….someone (before I became computer savvy) suggested I sell my car on it. I said that I didn't think people would sell their valuable items on a computer…..too risky in my book (back then)……I have since sold 4 cars on ebay…..along with loads of other stuff over the years (as I'm sure we all have)…..I wouldn't have invested early in microsoft ebay, google, amazon or anything like that as it wasn't something I fully understood or believed in. Also if you look at the dot com boom issues (lastminute.com etc) they crashed initially but many eventually became strong trading companies. Sometimes a company will do much better when the stock holders are breathing down their knecks 24/7 and this drives floated companies onto success. None of us can say absolutely that the public won't look at self selling their property in the future…..when they become more educated?
Sorry Wilko with cars and stuff that is either nicked, doesn't work or isn't wanted there is a product and a subtle difference in the contract law that governs the sale. Product selling is retail whereas property transfer is a service. The internet has been around as long for property as it has for Autotrader and Ebay yet the onliners have only grabbed 2% or so of the market in the same 15 years that has allowed Online to grab a fair chunk of retail.
There is stuff going on right now that you ought to be concerned about, it is online but it is not at this cottage industry/ homeworker end of the industry. (Chris is a bit touchy about being regarded as a passive intermediary even though he isn't 'full service' yet)
Agree 100% with you on everything you say here, but you and I both have the insight, many investors don't, which is why they back an "idea" rather than a "successful trading company". ebay was just an idea for people to sell stuff, and it is one of the richest companies. Ebay, at 1 point would only have sold 2% of stuff sold in total and most of us would never have invested in them at that point. You see it's no longer about whether you believe Easyproperty will work, because in spite of them posting extremely poor initial figures, there will be no end of people who like the idea of self sell of property, and will therefore invest in them at flotation…….the same people who invest probably would use a full service agent when they come to sell their house. When they float and make millions£ from investors you could argue that they are successful, even if they don't go on to be the answer to international self sale of property.
I started a small dinghy company last week, im going to be floating it next month.
Surely you mean you 'launched' a small dinghy company… May God bless you and all who sail in her.
True, it's not going to be easy but i'm sure I can do it.
I started an origami company last week and its folded already…….
Haha…. like it Surreyagent.
My Bra factory went bust!
I had a car safety testing enterprise but it hit the wall
I had a Space Station rocket company but it crashed and burned. That really was rocket science.
I had a dodgy glue company that went insolvent