Foxtons chairman Nigel Rich acquired more than £12,000 worth of shares in the London based estate agency yesterday.

Rich, who was appointed chairman of the company in November 2021, replacing long-serving Ian Barlow who had faced criticisms over salaries and dividends, bought 30,113 shares in Foxtons on Thursday, at a price of 41.3p each, spending a total of £12.436.67.

Industry veteran Rich was labelled “an outstanding candidate” at the time of his appointment last year by Alan Giles, a senior independent director at Foxtons, who was keen to highlight his “extensive experience with listed companies” in the same sector.

Meanwhile, Purplebricks has announced that chief financial officer Stephen Long has been awarded a shares bonus as part of the company’s performance plan for senior management.

A statement to shareholders read: “Purplebricks Group plc, a leading UK estate agency business, announces that … 1,500,000 awards over ordinary shares of £0.01 each in the company were granted under the Purplebricks Performance Share Plan to Stephen Long, chief financial officer, a person discharging managerial responsibilities.

“The awards have an exercise price of £0.01 per share and become exercisable subject to continued employment and performance based on two performance measures relating to the Company’s relative and absolute total shareholder return over a three-year performance period.”

“In addition, each award is also subject to an underpin condition, requiring the Remuneration Committee to be satisfied as to overall Company performance and other success markers including customer satisfaction before confirming any vesting under the formulaic performance conditions.”