Can ‘uneconomic’ Easyproperty survive? Parent company reveals strategic review
KPMG-prepared accounts for 2018 reveal that headcount and marketing spend at online agency have been cut but business model remains 'uneconomic'.
The parent group of online estate agency Easyproperty has revealed that the business is now profitable after major reductions in costs including a lower headcount and significantly reduced marketing spend.
But despite the cost-cutting, parent group Eprop Services, which also owns Fine & Country and The Guild of Property Professionals and technology subsidiary Property Logic, says it is undertaking a strategic review of EasyProperty, which could see it closed or sold off.
“The degree of financial investment and management attention required by the group to compete with the market leaders in online estate agency have proven uneconomic at a time when the market share of the online model as a whole has stalled and there remain no clear signs of it being profitable,” its KPMG-prepared accounts for 2018 reveal.
Reduced losses
The cost-cutting at Easyproperty have helped eProp Services drastically reduce its losses.
These have dropped from £8.7 million for the 15-month period to 31 December 2017 on a turnover of £5.6 million to £294,049 to the 12 months to December 31 2018 on a turnover of £11.6 million.
As might be expected, the report makes no mention of Toscafund, the City investment fund which also has interests in Purplebricks and HouseSimple, which recently launched a takeover bid for eProp Services.
It has offered its 600 shareholders 50p a share, valuing the company at £17.85 million, an offer which Eprop’s independent directors have recommended as “fair and reasonable”.
