Purplebricks postpones 2021 earnings release to August

Purplebricks will now be announcing its annual results for the 12 months ended December 31, 2021 in the first week of August, rather than mid-July as originally expected.

The online real estate agency says the deadline is to allow ssufficient time to complete the audit, which this year included additional procedures due to new processes and controls put in place by the company since the last audit.

The board says it continues to expect to report revenue of around £70m and an adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of around £8.8m. as previously announced in a May 25, 2022 trade update.

Purplebricks’ May business update, which said full annual results would be released on July 14, revealed that since announcing its interim results in January, the company has seen a continued decline in news volumes. instructions coming to market.

These market conditions had an impact on the level of net instructions which, for the full year ended April 30, 2022, were 40,141, compared to 58,043 in 2021.

Purplebricks’ cash balance at April 30, 2022 was £43.2m, reflecting lower instruction volumes and one-off costs as expected.

The company’s annual results for 2021 showed revenue of £90m, EBITDA of £12m and cash balances of £74m.

The May trade update followed a rather turbulent period for the online real estate agency, caused in part by regulatory failures.

EYE revealed in November last year that Purplebricks had failed to properly serve legally required documents on tenants explaining that their deposits had been placed in a nationwide protection scheme.

Purplebricks, which also recently reported that the terms of business were “difficult”, is currently being investigated by Propertymark for possible rental law breaches.

Purplebricks recently confirmed the appointment of Helena Marston as Managing Director.

Marston was due to take over as chief executive on April 4, but her appointment was delayed, subject to due diligence, which has now been completed.

Marston, previously the company’s chief operating officer, succeeded Vic Darvey who stepped down in March.

Weeks after Marston took over, Purplebricks fired a number of field agents for failing to meet sales targets – some receiving less than an hour’s notice.

EYE have been told that Purplebricks are able to lay off staff without notice as none have been employed for over two years so full employment rights have not yet been put in place.

A Purplebricks spokesperson told EYE: “As part of our drive to provide industry-leading service standards, we continuously manage staff performance. This means that some of our field agents have recently left the company.