Purplebricks is to announce its crucial half-year results on 9^th December 2022, it has told City investors.

The period will be the trading period covering the six months to 31^st October this year and will be a crucial moment for CEO Helen Marston (pictured), who was appointed in April this year after a spell as its human resources chief.

All eyes will be on its financial performance and whether Marston’s strategies to turn the company around are working.

Its more recent trading update, released in August, reported a drop of 23% in revenues to £70 million, and a profit fall of 27% to 42.1 million, and an EBITDA loss of £8.8 million.

Purplebricks model

At the time she said this weak performance was caused by the disruption wrought by the 2021 decision to “implement a new operating model and [an] investment in marketing that did not deliver the expected results, alongside a housing market which played against us”.

Online agents tend to do less well during booms as mid-market vendors are less inclined to worry about agency fees when the potential value of their home is rising fast.

The recent signs that the market is turning from boom to normality or even recession after the disastrous Kwarteng budget and the subsequent rise in mortgage interest rates, as well as the cost-of-living crisis, may play into Purplebricks hands as home movers seek to cut costs.

As well as releasing its trading figures on 9^th December, Marston and her CFO Dominique Highfield are to face investors and analysts during a live Q&A at 8.30am on the same day.