Purplebricks tells Stock Exchange it does not know of any reason for share price rise

Shares in Purplebricks fell back on Friday afternoon after the firm issued a statement to the London Stock Exchange. This morning (Monday) it issued an additional statement.

The Friday statement, issued at 3.30pm just an hour before close of trading, said:

“Purplebricks Group plc

“Recent share price movement

“Purplebricks Group plc (AIM: PURP) (“Purplebricks”), the hybrid estate agent providing a new way to buy, sell or let property, notes the recent strong increase in the share price and confirms that it is not aware of any reason for the movement. Whilst the company has had a good start to the calendar year, the board’s expectations remain unchanged.”

This morning’s additional statement to the Stock Exchange said:

“Purplebricks Group plc (AIM: PURP) (“Purplebricks”), the hybrid estate agent providing a new way to buy, sell or let property, provides additional comment further to its announcement of 27 January 2017.

“As noted in the interim results announcement, the Company entered 2017 in its strongest positon ever with significantly increased LPE capacity, substantial growth in brand awareness, record instructions, sales and revenue together with a more advanced infrastructure.

“The Board confirms that, as expected with the start to the calendar year, the Company has seen record monthly valuations and instructions activity in January (as mentioned in a tweet by the Company on 26 January). 

“As expectations are for trading to show year-on-year instruction growth, the record level of valuations and instructions in January is in line with such expectations.    

“The Board reconfirms that the Company has had a good start to the calendar year and, with a number of key months ahead of us, its expectations for the financial year ending 30 April 2017 remain unchanged.” 

The shares had been trading on Friday at an all-time high, the Daily Mail reported at the weekend.

Under the headline “Online agent claims to be mystified by its 80% rise”, the Mail’s Hugo Duncan wrote on Saturday: “What an incredible two months it has been for Purplebricks, the online estate agent backed by, among others, star fund manager Neil Woodford.

“Shares have soared in recent weeks, so much so that the board yesterday felt obliged to comment, with just an hour of trading to go before the stock market closed.”

He went on: “But what triggered the statement?

“Perhaps it was the rise in the share price from 104p at the start of December and 155.5p at the start of this week to an all-time high of 200p by early afternoon yesterday.

“Or perhaps it was a tweet from the company’s official Twitter account on Thursday, stating that ‘January has been a record-breaking month for valuations & instructions’.

“Either way, yesterday’s 3.30pm statement was enough to send the shares tumbling, with the stock closing the session down 4.9% or 9.5p at 183.5p. Not that investors will mind too much given the recent gains.

“The share price rally of almost 80% in the last two months has certainly been a boon for brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce who founded the company in 2014.

“Michael Bruce, who is chief executive, has seen the value of his stake jump by £34m since early December to £77.4m while his brother’s holding has gained £10.1m to £22.7m.

“Away from the shenanigans at Purplebricks, it was a subdued end to the week on stock markets…”

The Daily Mail article is here

The Purplebricks tweet is below

purplebricks tweet Screen Shot 2017-01-27 at 14.11.05

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35 Comments

  1. PeeBee

    Apologies to those that have already read these comments posted on Friday’s article – but they are just as relevant to this one…

    (dates amended)
    Erm… I’m confused.  I know it doesn’t take much – but will somebody help me on this, please?
    Thursday, 10am:
    “January has been a record breaking month for valuations & instructions” – Posed on company Twitter Page
    Friday, 3.30pm:
    “the company has had a good start to the calendar year” – Statement published on LSE
    So which is it? “A good start”? – OR A RECORD-BREAKER?
    Answers, on a purple postcard, please…
    Or what about this:
    Could someone at Purplebricks possibly advise whether this property –
    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-57862243.html
    is one of their “record month”/”good start”/add another phrase (delete where applicable) ‘listings’?
    Thanks.
    Or how about this one –
    http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/40706736#BiwRJlG14mIG1YiS.97
    Can we assume this to be counted as a ‘listing’ towards your “record-breaking month”?
    If you do nothing more – have a click on the last link, folks…

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    1. Bless You

      its easy to break records when your 2 years old..i am just hoping that because they have had to count valuations it means that instructions aren’t record….. #peakoil.

      can other members please get on twitter and balnce their propaganda please.

      I feel ‘pay anyway’ model is very will create pressure selling in the industry and this isn’t fair on no sale no fee agents who have to live in the areas they work.

       

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  2. Robert May

    In a few  short months the end of year figures for Purplebricks are due in, only then will  everyone know the true extent of what is going on.

    Let’s see if the profits predicted for 14-15 trading year make an appearance,  if just 1% of the HUGE profits predicted for 15-16 pop up and  **** a nah nah na nah nah snook at  their doubters.

    3000 listings a month is  apparently all it takes to show estate agents how the selling public thirst for  a pay to list and wait  method of selling property. At the end of April I look forward to seeing  a turnover figure somewhere in the region of £38.1m which will show, based on their EBITDA story in December that Purplebricks have  done what the said they were hoping to achieve  2 years ago; make a profit.

    I doubt it will be the £17m or £24.9m profits, I doubt they will have the 480 listing reps or command 10% of all transactions we were told they would have by now, but If they have made £1 profit I will say a well earned well done.

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    1. AgentV

      I don’t understand why their share price is even above its starting position, let alone not far off double last week, when they are clearly falling so far short of their projected targets. You would surely have expected the share price shortly after launch on the AIM to be based on expectancy of reaching those targets, wouldn’t you?

      What I wouldn’t give to see their current true unique listings numbers over the last few months…. and the trend?

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      1. Robert May

        When you say that “What I wouldn’t give”  what  have you got?

        If you have an  original Albon/DC Bambi diesel un-run in original box  I might have what you’re looking for

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        1. AgentV

          No but I’ve got an original Scalextric in the loft somewhere, a pack of Captain Scarlet cards, a commodore amiga and a zx spectrum………

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  3. Robert May

    FAO Mary Whitehouse filter, please add large male chicken a snook to your exceptions list

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  4. Hillofwad71

    They have now confirmed  in a further RNS this morning  January as a record month  What they dont tell us of course is how many instructions they took in December The RNS further flags up that the yearly  total is in line with expecations Jnauary has certainly been a good month  You woud expecct it to be after an expensive TV campaign  As December was a poor month the increase has   only picked up some of the shortfall in December They studiously avoid mentioning th elephant in the room-  Lettings

     

    http://www.quotehd.com/imagequotes/authors69/homer-simpson-quote-oh-people-can-come-up-with-statistics-to-prove.jpg

    http://www.lse.co.uk/share-regulatory-news.asp?shareprice=PURP&share=purplebricks

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    1. AgentV

      Any latest figures for January? These presumably including any possible re-listings?

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    2. Robert May

      Thanks for that. I’m surprised the LSE operates on such little actual  content and clarification

      It reminds me of a trusting mum;  “Yes I have done my homework, no I haven’t been playing with the big girls down the playing field or course it wasn’t me”

       

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      1. Bless You

        They all took profits months ago,,they are just riding the wave at moment..daily mail, ALT figures….Australia is confusing people to..looks like a high growth business…it might be but a after a few years the valuation will have to come down..

        in the meantime agents need to strike against rightmove to get PB removed from RM under grounds of pay any way model.

        Rightmove and Zoopla are the kindling for these pay upfront agents.

        Onthemakret are you listening??

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    3. PeeBee

      “They have now confirmed  in a further RNS this morning  January as a record month…”

      Actually, Hillofwad71 – I would suggest that the statement is an attempt to confirm it as a record JANUARY:

      “As expectations are for trading to show year-on-year instruction growth, the record level of valuations and instructions in January is in line with such expectations.

      The Devil being in the detail and all that…

      Good work on the Broadstairs property, by the way.

      Now that it has been briskly removed from Zoopla and Rightmove the question as to whether it is counted in any statistics – ESPECIALLY those that will be reported to The City – becomes the sixty-four thousand dollar question.

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      1. AgentV

        So it’s the best January they have had since starting? That’s not really that surprising….but what are the true numbers? It’s interesting isn’t it….. how things that you say can lead people to believe what they think you are trying to say…and then you can always fall back on what technically you did say….in your defence.

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  5. Hillofwad71

    Well just counted them up  for January and .its showing 2,012 on Zoopla as “just added “which we know may or may not include those that have been “rested “on a “Marketing Holiday” Will Amanda take them on holiday with her  to A Place in the Sun” !

    Confusing as I thought they had exceeded that  figure beofre This is  the problem when  a company refuses point blank  about being transparent aboutactual  number of sales ,.% of properties being unsold after  a year etc ,monthly totals

     

     

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    1. AgentV

      2012……that’s way down on the 3,000 needed….I wonder how many of those are genuine new instructions.

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  6. smile please

    Couple or three points.

     

    1. “We have no idea why share price jumped” – Err maybe because the unqualified comments regarding record month came out of the camp.

    2. We all dislike PB as we know they do not offer a like for like product / service but imply they do. BUT be it 1500 or 3000 listings a month they are continuing to grow. Until a TV Campaign is launched regarding the benefits of a full service agent this will not stop.

    3. Out of interest, and purely hypothetical (i have no plans to do this) who would be happy to contribute £100 – £200 per month for a couple of years to invest in TV advertising for full service high street agents? – Maybe cancel your second portal to find the budget?

     

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    1. AgentV

      Me, me, me…… pick me (whilst jumping up and down ‘donkey like’ in the background)

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      1. AgentV

        ‘they are continuing to grow’…that is the problem, its being done off the back of a very public TV advertising campaign ridiculing what we do. If I were a member of the NAEA I would be asking them why they are turning a blind eye to this being done by one member of their organisation against the majority of their other members!!!

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        1. smile please

          V,

          What you need to remember is NAEA is a “For profits” organisation. They have no interest in punishing their members as they could lose vital revenue.

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          1. AgentV

            Agreed….but great pity that it is trying to makes all members in the publics’ eye look ‘as bad as one another’…..so then the only thing left to choose from is price!!

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        2. Bless You

          Yes and to think they used to get annoyed about ‘touting’…. now we are being ‘flouted’ they are aligning themselves with them.

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  7. Hillofwad71

    The total according to Zoopla  from Dec 1st so far  is 3,550 or thereabouts showing that its less than 2,000 pcmonth for the last t 2months  These stats are  a complete bewilderment Smoke and mirrors A cold wind blew in December

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    1. AgentV

      I wonder what the actual true numbers really are…..thanks Hillofwad71

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  8. Hillofwad71

    Havent got the foogiest

    Peebee highlighted this property in Broadstairs and here is the following chat on  Sat with Bricks who state its a fresh listing

     

     
    Rebecca] Welcome to Purplebricks. My name is Rebecca, may I take your name please?
    [Visitor] David Property In Broadstairs CT10 2JX. Can you advise me when this was first listed .Thanks
    [Rebecca] Hi David, this property came to market with us today.
    [Visitor] Yes I saw that .I am sure its been on before ?
    [Rebecca] Not with us, it may have been on with another agent.
    [Visitor] Ok Thanks

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    1. PeeBee

      Would you like to know the REAL history of it?

      (by the way – it has since been #Delisted…)

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      1. Hillofwad71

        Yes  !!!

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      2. smile please

        Come on PeeBee spill!

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        1. PeeBee

          EYE is not the right place – I do not wish to create a situation.

          Erm… actually I PROBABLY already have – but let’s move this particular fight out of our beloved pub and into the street!

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          1. Hillofwad71

            “Public Realtions is at best promotion or manipulation . What it is never about is the freeflow of information ”

            HEATHER BROOKE

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  9. AgentV

    Lets make no bones about this…….for PB to exceed to the extent they want to with market share….many of us small independent agents have to go out of business or be destroyed……hence the insulting and ridiculing public propaganda campaign!!!

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    1. AgentV

      sorry succeed not exceed

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  10. Woodentop

    Such a “move” would normally instigate the market watchdog taking a closer look?

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    1. AgentV

      Sorry which “move” Woodentop?

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      1. Woodentop

        Share value, when a company is not making money?

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  11. Property Paddy

    So does anyone have a reasonable idea as to how many new instructions PB actually listed in January 2017 ? Was it a record month ? did they perform well?

    Or was it just hot air

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