Purplebricks see resilient trading in the First Half

Purplebricks Group (LON:PURP), a leading estate agency business, has announced its Interim Results for the six months ended 31 October 2019.

Financial highlights

·      Group revenue £64.8 million (H1 19: £57.6 million), up 12.5% or 1.9% on a pro forma basis

·      Revenue split UK 73%, Canada 27%

·      Group gross margin 61%, down 130bps mostly due to buyside revenue growth in Canada

·      UK ancillary revenue^[4] 45% of total (H1 19: 44%)

·      UK Adjusted EBITDA³ £5.5 million (H1 19: £8.4 million), an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.7%

·      Cash at period end £41.6 million (30 April 2019: £62.8 million)

·      Loss for the period including discontinued businesses £14.1 million (H1 19: £27.8 million)

Operational highlights

·      Customers saved more than £150 million in commission in the First Half

·      UK listing market share^[5] broadly maintained at 4.1%; share of completions⁵ 5.3%, up 280bps

·      UK average revenue per instruction (“ARPI”) up 12% year-on-year

·      UK pricing review completed, moving into testing phase

·      UK brand awareness now at 97%

·      Canada maintained solid EBITDA margin in Quebec

·      Strong growth of Purplebricks brokerage outside of Quebec driven by buyside mandates

·      Australia and the US closures going to plan and within the £10-14m range announced in July

Vic Darvey, Group Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are very pleased with the progress made in the Period in light of the market backdrop. We’ve seen resilient trading in the First Half, with our diverse revenue streams and strong ARPI growth improving the quality of earnings and balancing out declining market conditions. We end the First Half having now stabilised the business and the significant losses incurred last year have now been reversed with the Group enjoying profitable trading.

“Our focus on operational excellence and improvements in our technology-led proposition, along with proactive management of our pricing structure will enable us to continue to achieve profitable growth. We remain confident of meeting our medium-term objective to gain a 10% share of the UK market.”

Presentation

A presentation for analysts and professional investors will be held at 9.00am at the offices of Buchanan, 107 Cheapside, London EC2V 6DN. To attend please email Hannah Ratcliffe at hannahr@buchanan.uk.com.

The presentation will be webcast live and will be accessible via the Purplebricks website at www.purplebricksplc.com/investors/latest_results and a replay will also be available on the Purplebricks website following the presentation.