Purplebricks Group plc (LON:PURP), a leading UK estate agency business, has announced its results for the year ended 30 April 2020 and provides an update on strategy and current trading.
| Full Year Group* | 2020 £m | 2019 £m | Change |
| Revenue | 111.1 | 113.8 | -2% |
| Gross profit | 67.7 | 69.4 | -3% |
| Gross profit margin (%) | 60.9% | 61.0% | -10 bps |
| Operating loss | (9.4) | (1.5) | -527% |
| Adjusted EBITDA1 | 1.8 | 6.6 | -73% |
| Cash at year end2 | 31.0 | 62.8 | – |
*Group refers to UK and Canada
Financial and operational results
· COVID-19 materially impacted trading at year end, business adapted quickly to remain open and conserve cash
· UK average revenue per instruction (‘ARPI’)3 of £1,394, up 12% (2019: £1,243)
· Revenue
– Group revenue down by 2% to £111.1m (2019: £113.8m)
– UK revenue flat through first 10 months until pandemic and down 11% for full year
– UK instructions down 23% but underpinned by 12% increase in ARPI
· Adjusted EBITDA
– Group adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations reduced to £1.8m (2019: £6.6m) including loss of £1.4m from Canada which was sold post year end
– UK adjusted EBITDA down to £4.8m (2019: £10.2m) reflecting impact of suspension of housing market in the last two months of the financial year
· Including the results of the discontinued operations in the US and Australia, the Group’s total loss for the year was £19.2m (2019: £54.9m)
· Strong financial position, cash balance of £66.0m at 15 July following disposal of the Canadian business and no bank debt
· Improved UK marketing spend efficiency at 25.6% of revenue, down 400bps
· Saved UK customers £77m in commission4
· 3.9%5 market share of instructions, 5.1%5 share of properties sold by volume
Strategy update and current trading
· Strategic focus now fully on the UK following disposal of the Canadian business
· Strategic initiatives being delivered at pace with significant opportunity for further innovation
· Continued to see new instructions through the pandemic and market recovering well since mid-May, supported by Government’s Stamp Duty holiday effective 8 July
· Highest ever month for instructions in the UK, listing over 7,000 homes in July
· Clear evidence consumers are starting to shift towards apps and tech-based alternatives
· Confident in the opportunity to drive leverage and scale by extending our market and growing value-add revenues
· Despite market rebounding strongly, outlook for second half of year remains uncertain
Vic Darvey, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“This year has seen some very difficult market conditions with political and economic uncertainty dominating the landscape as a result of both Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite all of this, I’m pleased to say that we saw a resilient performance, with revenue decline of only 2% across the Group.
This year has seen significant change for the Group, shifting our strategic focus back to the UK market and ensuring that we have a strong platform for growth. As a result, we are now emerging through the COVID-19 pandemic in a very strong position.
We exited the US and Australian markets, recently disposed of our Canadian business, and we’ve sharpened our focus on instilling financial discipline and operational excellence across the business. Alongside that, we’ve put in place a new and highly experienced digital leadership team.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19, our strategic initiatives are being delivered at pace to accelerate our digital and data capabilities, and with a very healthy net cash balance of £66m, I’m confident that we can take advantage of the changing landscape.
The Group is encouraged by the early signs of the housing market rebounding well following the lifting of the lockdown and the Government’s Stamp Duty holiday.
We strongly believe that, in the current market, technology led estate agency is starting to emerge as the winning model and there is clear evidence that consumers are increasingly shifting towards apps and tech-based alternatives. With our strengthened leadership team and balance sheet, we are in a strong position to accelerate our model, extend our market share and grow our value-add revenues.”
