Purplebricks Group PLC (LON:PURP) Chief Executive Officer Michael Bruce caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss their interim results, the property market post-Brexit, their view for 2017 and the possibility of further international expansion
Q1: Now Michael, some impressive results out today, how have you seen the property market post-Brexit and what’s your view for 2017?
A1: Yes, it’s fantastic to see the results out today, it’s a testament to some hard work and excellent execution by our people and the brand advocates that we have in our customers. I suppose from our perspective we always saw Brexit as an opportunity to continue to grow our market share, we saw it as an opportunity to get out there and educate the UK consumers that actually the cost of selling your house it too high, you’ve been paying for too long and that the unfair commission-based model of estate agency is not the one that you should choose and we have been very pleased to see. The results today have started to demonstrate that that the UK consumer is making that choice and there’s a seismic change happening in the estate agency industry, we’re at the forefront of that change and we’re looking to capitalise on it.
We go into 2017, we go into it better prepared than we’ve ever been before, we’ve got more local property experts than we’ve ever had before; we’ve increased those in the last six months by over 119% which is fantastic. There’s more and more people from the industry wanting to join Purplebricks in order to offer a better quality of service, that’s why we’re number 1 in terms of the most positively reviewed estate agent in the UK, possibly anywhere even in the world. So from our perspective we see Brexit as an opportunity and that opportunity post-Brexit we’ve demonstrated today with these results and that’s working. We’ve hoped and looked to build on that going into 2017 much better equipped, prepared to build and grow in the future.
Q2: How has your launch into Australia gone and does this really imply that there may be further international expansion?
A2: Our launch into Australia has been a fantastic start, the first thing to notice is that we’ve chosen, and time has demonstrated, a fantastic management team. The Australian people have been more vocal about the need for change in their market than anywhere I’ve visited or seen in the world and they are demonstrating that by instructing Purplebricks to sell their properties. We’re being successful in growing that; over $1 million of revenue in the first 7 weeks, more and more people instructing us whether by private treaty or by auctions, auctions are very popular in Australia and we have undertaken a number of auctions and undertaken them really successfully. So Australia is a fantastic start, we intend to grow that country, we intend to launch in other regions within Australia which we will announce in due course.
In terms of other international markets, I’ve always said that Purplebricks Group is an amazing opportunity, it’s an opportunity that we should capitalise on at the right time in the right circumstances. As one of the founders, and my brother being the other founder alongside me, it’s always very very important for us that whatever we do, whether it’s international markets or not, it’s important to find the right management team who believe in the same culture, who can build the business and scale it in the same way. We found that in Australia which is great and in the future if we see the same opportunity and it’s right for our people, it’s right for our shareholders and it’s right for that particular location then we’ll certainly look to capitalise on any opportunity that comes our way.
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