Pindar ‘must still go’ despite new Purplebricks board appointments
Investor Adam Smith, who owns a 4.2% stake in Purplebricks, welcomes industry board additions but repeats resign call.
Activist shareholder Adam Smith has repeated his call for Purplebricks Chairman Paul Pindar (pictured) to stand down.
The move comes despite the appointment of two non-executive directors to the Purplebricks board, who both have considerable industry experience.
The announcement of Adrian Gill and Gareth Helm joining the agency came just a few hours before this week’s AGM. Both men will start in their new roles from 1 October, tasked with helping the turnaround.
A statement issued by Smith’s investment vehicle Lecram Holdings to The Neg says: “We are pleased to see that the chairman has finally done what we have been calling for both, publicly and privately for a while now, and that is to bring some relevant property experience onto the board of a what is, after all, a property agency.
“However, this does nothing to change our previously stated position on the company.”
Profits slump
Representatives from both Lecram Holdings and its advisers Harrier Capital attended the AGM on Wednesday, where the chairman’s position was not put to a vote. They had called on Pindar to resign in a letter to The Independent in July and after the company reported a slump in profits in early August.
Gill has 20 years’ experience as a property executive including as finance director and group commercial director of Connells, executive director, estate agency at LSL Property Services PLC, and group CEO of Leaders Romans Group.
Helm has over 30 years’ marketing expertise, largely as a chief marketing officer in high-profile, consumer-facing businesses including Zoopla, McDonald’s, Moneysupermarket, Mars and Homeserve.
It’s all very well for these big money investors to demand changes of management at PB but the truth is the Bruces set up the business on totally false pretenses. Yes, the initial concept conned many home owners & with blanket misleading marketing the share price initially rose, enabling the ‘boys’ to cash in before the proverbial inevitably hit the fan. All that’s left is a lost cause while the real property pros flourish as always by doing the job properly.