Final battle for control of Purplebricks to be fought today
Troubled estate agency is to canvass its shareholders on who should be the firm's chairman - incumbent Paul Pindar or industry veteran Harry Hill.
Crunchtime arrives today for an effort by Purplebricks shareholder Lecram Holdings to replace the estate agency’s chairman Paul Pindar (main image, right) with former Rightmove co-founder and Countrywide and Hunters senior Harry Hill (left).
The agency’s annual shareholder meeting is due to take place today in London at which a vote of all the company’s stock holders is due to be held to decide the issue, which pitches Lecram and its candidate against the Purplebricks board.
Battle lines have already been drawn following statements issued by both sides following Lecram’s request for a vote on Pindar on 8th November.
The performance of the Company under current Chairman Paul Pindar has been disastrous.”
“The performance of the Company under current Chairman Paul Pindar has been disastrous, particularly in terms of value for shareholders,” its statement says.
Pointing out that the company’s share price has lost 95% of its value since its 2017 high of £4.95p to 11p – and since the statement has sunk to 5.5p – Lecram says this is “made all the worse given that it has largely taken place during a buoyant residential property market”.
The Purplebricks board subsequently issued a statement saying it rejects Lecram’s points, arguing that the company already has a plan to improve business performance, that the company already has a strong leadership team and that Pindar plays a vital role in delivering value for Shareholders.
But its arguments are not helped by the company’s recent half-year results, which revealed grim figures including a 16% drop in revenue, a 38% plummet in gross profits and a rise in operating loss to £11.7 million.
Hill has commented publicly that the current management’s decision to splurge once more TV and other advertising is misguided and that the company would never make profit – as other experts have said too – while it tried to offer the same or similar service to a traditional agent but only charge a flat £1,200 fee.
Read the Lecram Holdings statement in full.
Changing directors at PB is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Sorry Lecram, you backed a loser.
If just 8.3% more voted for Harry, then he would have won the separate resolution to appoint him as a director. Given the huge shareholding that Axel Springer has, it would seem to me that Paul has had a bloodied nose here.
To me and I play a lot of chess, Helena Marston (aka Liz Truss) is playing out an endgame with very few pieces left, even less moves and only one conclusion.
Hill is correct, but in being correct he makes the valid point we have all made as traditional High Street Agents, what is the point of Purplebricks moving forward ?
It is a failed model and I am shocked their share price is as much as 5.5p.