The parent company of the Guild, Fine & Country and easyProperty has reported an operating loss from core activities of £0.3m for the 12 months to the end of last December.

The headline operating loss for 2018 was £5.3m but due to a number of accounting adjustments is reduced to £0.3m. This is down from £8.7m from the previous accounting period, the 15 months to the end of December 2017.

The directors report ‘a year of good progress’ in the accounts.

Group revenues for eProp Services in 2018 were £11.7m, up from £5.6m. Pre-tax losses for the 12 months were £5.4m, against £11.2m.

The accounts of eProp Services, just posted on Companies House, include specific reference to easyProperty.

The documentation says: “The group are currently undertaking a strategic review of the easyProperty business.

“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 becoming profitable.”

The accounts also reveal that during 2018, “the business reviewed the easyProperty division and reduced its costs predominantly in headcount and marketing”.

There will be continued “stringent cost control” of easyProperty until the strategic review is completed, say the accounts.

EYE has already been told that the strategic review – ie, the decision whether to continue with or close easyProperty – will follow the publication of the accounts.

Toscafund is the biggest backer of the eProp Group, with Tosca Acquisition bidding to take it over.

EYE NEWSFLASH: easyProperty likely to close after equity firm bids for parent company