Senior people at both Rightmove and Purplebricks have exercised share options in the last few days.
At Rightmove, CEO Nick MicKittrick and chief operating officer Peter Brooks-Johnson have exercised rights to buy shares awarded at nil cost in March 2014 in respect of bonuses for the previous financial year.
McKittrick exercised his right to acquire 9,224 deferred shares. He subsequently sold 4,353 of the ordinary shares received in order to satisfy the arising taxation liability at an average price of 3748.796p per share.
He retained the balance of 4,871 ordinary shares – worth over £180,000.
Brooks-Johnson exercised his right to acquire 24,879 performance shares. These include rolled up dividend payments of 928 shares. He subsequently sold 11,743 of the ordinary shares received in order to satisfy the arising taxation liability, at the same average price.
He retained the balance of 13,136 ordinary shares.
Brooks-Johnson also exercised his right to acquire 6,918 deferred shares and subsequently sold 3,266.
Purplebricks has reported to the stock market that its chief financial officer Neil Cartwright has exercised 160,353 options.
David Kavanagh, chief technology officer, David Shepherd, chief information Officer, and Matthew Farrow, finance director, have exercised 101,502 options, 84,589 options and 216,349 options, respectively.
Pursuant to the exercise of the options, an application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for 648,318 new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM (‘Admission’). It is expected that Admission will become effective this Friday.
Perhaps now that the higher echelons of PB have had their Christmas bonus they can work extra hard, in the few days left before the festive break, to calculate for the market the actual number of properties they complete sales on.
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This is what they currently say on their website;
£3035
AVERAGE CUSTOMER SAVING
Accross the uk
£6267: Source: Purplebricks customer survey of 109 customers who sold with Purplebricks between 19/05/15 – 07/07/2016 claiming average traditional estate agent commission quoted at point of property valuation was 1.8% against an average property sold price of: £414,815 £3035: Source: Purplebricks customer survey of 1,489 customers who sold with Purplebricks between 06/09/14 – 07/07/16 claiming average traditional estate agent commission quoted at point of property valuation was 1.8% against an average property sold price of: £215,815
Well butter me up under the skin and shove a lemon up my …..but it’s only a saving if your sale actually completes, because it is comparing itself to a ‘no sale no fee’. Otherwise it’s a cost you wouldn’t have otherwise had. So if they are going to compare ‘like for like’ they should be quoting their fee multiplied by the listing to completed sale ratio and provide proof. For instance if 50% of their listings go on to complete their sale with PB then the fee they quote in comparison to ‘no sale,no fee’ should be doubled.
Otherwise don’t make the misleading comparison!!!!
Also very interesting that both survey figure figures are exactly the same at 1.8% isn’t it?
And how many agents outside London charge 1.8% on a property value above £200,000 nowadays? Our fee would be 1% which means no customer would save ‘thousands’ by using an online agent….and if the ‘Pay Up Front Fee Adjustment (PUFFA)’ was applied I wonder if there would be any saving at all!
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Nothing like seeing founding shareholders of Bricks cashing in chips and trousering the proceeds before a penny profit is earned.Nice work if you can get it Now Keyser has alerted us to the home .co.uk site I will be watching the new instructions figures like a hawk
Since the 9th December they have taken on 516 new instructions .For example 42 yesterday .The 12th was pretty poor with a paltry 9 This looks like it will pan out about 1250-1500 for the month .Quiet month yes ,but a lot of ground to make up to hit the 3,600pcm forecasted in the Hardman report.
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Hillofwad71
It would be good to contact you about your post and maybe swap some information to help. Can we contact you someway?
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Hillofwad71
By the way, do you have figures for any previous months, or have you only started in December? If you have previous months, it would be interesting to know the numbers.
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Agent I am just an observer of Bricks. I am an ex surveyor/ agent.who just dabbles in property and mainly a very small time investor . I have been looking for the right time to grow some cojones and take a short but not just yet so no particular axe to grind . No exact figures but October and November showing slower growth than September despite an increase in number of LPE,s .Keyser has been observing more closely.The agentco.uk only goes back 500 but from now on in should be able to monitor more closely and hopefully have an accurate picture.Forewarned is forearmed .
The spring will be the real tester to see if it goes above 3,000pcm (£3m revenue) which is where they need to be to match H1 which is going to be a very close call
New TV campaign launching on Boxing Day which will take care of most of the December revenue
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We have some links and information for you that might help in your observations. Too many to put here….but could send by email or twitter if we knew how to contact you.
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They are currently on track to list around 1500 in December. December is a tough month for any estate agent but this is very low.
The biggest issue they must have is trying to appease their LPEs. They currently have 366 (according to their website) and I believe they pay them £150 per instruction (with the Territory Manager getting another £50).
That will be 4 instructions on average each for December. That is £600! I can only think they are having to subsidise their earnings.
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Keyser Soze,
We have some links and information which might help if we can contact you.
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Please send to keysersoze99(at sign)zoho.com
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Done thanks
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And so it continues, the obsession with Purplebricks…
To be fair there’s a lot of good, common sense talk about them but there sure is a lot of crying to go with it. It’s getting a little embarrassing.
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The main problem is that as independents I think we are insulted by claims that that we don’t do our jobs right, we don’t care, we don’t give the customer service and above all else that we charge far more than is necessary and the job can be done for less than a £1,000……… when quite clearly that is a loss making, investor supported, subsidised fee partly designed to damage the viability of our businesses in order to vastly increase their market share ….not for the benefit of the consumer as is claimed…..but to make a very few people lots of money!!!!! Phew!
On top of all that many of the claims are unsupported and misleading. We just want a fair playing field for David against the Goliath……….we just want the truth to be told!
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Dear London R80 not crying, not overly concerned with PB as, so far, they haven’t had much impact on my market (overall 1.5% market share at best in my area).
I have taken two properties off them this year too.
I do believe there is a genuine possibility of an integrated smart phone based system that will give the home owner huge savings on selling with flexibility, with security and actual assistance from showing buyers around to conveyance and completion. It’s a long way off and it might be another 30 years before it really comes in to it’s own. Sooner if the market is ready.
The likes of PB will by then have significantly changed their business model to evolve or like many of us old time agents just retired, grown old and pushing up daisies !
That said there will always be a role for the professional, involved, knowledgeable estate agent, just not as many as we have at the moment.
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I agree with Agent V that if PB are using such stats they should be based on a sales completion ratio? PB also ought to include their mind boggling conveyancing referral fees as they are now surely part of their fee?
It should also be pointed out to investors and the AIM that every instruction PB listed last year cost those ‘investors’ around £1800?
LondonR90 many more agents may be crying next year when they directly target your existing and future clients data with this BS courtesy of RM prospecting products? Such qualified and direct marketing would be so much better and cheaper than their National advertising campaigns that have so far prevented them from making any money?
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A lot of what PB do goes on in every business sector, not just estate agency.
To be fair I do not think they do all that some estate agents claim.
Sure PB compare fees and say they are cheaper than conventional agents – this is business. Most local agents put other local agents down, I have heard so many bad things said about how Foxtons, to name one agent, operate local to me.
Each and every customer has the right to leave PB a review on TP and they do. If that review is removed then it must be that PB have issued refunds and if the customer is happy then PB will not get a 1 star review. I know gaming the review system goes on because I know companies who do this on a large scale – that includes Google places reviews, TripAdvisor reviews and Yelp reviews. It happens, get on with it. Customers can see Facebook reviews which can be manipulated by the public or agents with an axe to grind PB. I suspect the truth lies between the TP and Facebook feedback they have. But so what? Let the public decide. I’m just saying, it’s an unhealthy obsession.
PB do not receive preferential treatment from TP. If a customer wants to leave a review and make it stick they can do that. I know how TP works inside out having worked for a lot of companies using the site. A Trustpilot 1 star review was left by ‘Martyn’ 5th May 2016 on Ewemove’s services. They tried 3 or 4 times to report and remove that review. The customer came back every time and the review remains.
PB make losses now but a lot of businesses (granted they’ve been smaller than PB) I know have made losses because of the initial advertising spend. If a time comes when PB do not need to advertise on TV or Adwords they will start making money, the same as RM do.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, agents are crying instead of concentrating on their own businesses.
Suggestions that investors in PB should be educated is ridiculous. It’s up to them if they want to invest. If PB are breaking the law then I would like to know who has reported them and to who? If nothing was done has the matter been followed up with a complaint? What has everyone else done?
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I’m not obsessed (I don’t think) I’m just a little paranoid that PB are developing something to go to the next stage that will severely affect our core market (they announced it’s development in their last statement). If it’s anywhere near as good as the idea we have (but do not yet have the resources to develop) it will affect us all a lot more….and as independents we will not be able to muster a collective response.
If we currently had a ‘collective network’ in place to build the ‘two stages on’ product for independents I would be a lot less concerned.
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In your opinion, do agents you’ve spoken to so far even care? What kind of response have you had?
What have you done to report PB for all the times they’ve broken the law?
Be honest.
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‘I’m not obsessed (I don’t think)’……
Actually thinking about it I do get a ‘pink pantherish’ quivering eye every time I see one of their boards…..fortunately at the moment it doesn’t happen that often.
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LondonR90..
To be fair I think most agents care….but everyone is too busy to worry too much about the threat at this stage. It’s a little like throwing your doors open for the first time in your new business a few months before the banks collapsed.
And no, I haven’t reported them for breaking the law…..because I have no proof they have…….and even if I did, would I believe anyone would do anything about it? Just look at the lack of response so far to the ‘portal juggling’ by the powers that be.
Hopefully ‘P’ day will never come, but in the meantime why not start quietly building a defence.
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PB have given a hint of how many houses they have sold in the website statement as discovered by Agent V above Source: Purplebricks customer survey of 1,489 customers who sold with Purplebricks between 06/09/14 – 07/07/16 They disclose to the stock market the average fee is £1,000 per customer =£1.489m! I’m sure that isn’t all their sales…just saying for a friend
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London
PB can remove any unfavourable reviews unless they can provide a receipted invoice to Bricks .So any buyer potential or otherwise and those that have had Bricks out to value and not instructed them PB ensure that they are removed.if unfavourable A totally biased rating .allowing PB to pick and choose. If you put an unfavourable one up Trustpilot gives PB your phone number and you get an area manager pleading with you to remove it.It sucks,
In addition those favourable reviews which are unverified are understandably left alone by PB so the whole rating is a joke and wide open to manipulation .The number of reviews is also unusually high with scripted comments like “so much cheaper than the high street agent”.These arent policed.
Its also noticeable that a high proportion of reviews are single Trustpilot reviewers which brings into question their authenticity. The reviewer so moved by PB,s exemplar service over and above any other company to make that review ! Dont believe that for one moment
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No they can’t remove unfavourable reviews from customers and no customers do not provide PB with proof, they provide proof to TP.
If a paying customer with a ‘buying experience’ leaves a 1 star review it will not get removed unless the customer gives in and doesn’t jump through hoops. I am not saying that what PB do is fair and right, I am just saying that if any single customer has a bad experience and wants to leave a 1 star review they can. If they are happy with a refund then why is that a problem?
I have acknowledged that PB are likely gaming the system but it’s likely that Ewemove are doing the same. The number 1 ranked agent on there that sold their business for £15m recently. Have you read their gushing reviews? I couldn’t I have never heard anyone have issue in the same way they have with PB. Is £15m not an insignificant enough number?
TP reviews are £10 a go. Different IP’s, different devices. All verified. Guaranteed to stick. So do not worry too much about who has verified reviews or not. Ewemove do not have a single one.
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It’s a pity they don’t say ‘So much cheaper than the high street agent…but we didn’t realise we could have got a much higher sale price if we had someone negotiating hard on our behalf’. And what customer would ever refer to us as a ‘high street agent’. Definitely seems scripted to me.
One thing is for sure I will never look at Trust Pilot for any reviews.
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LONDON
This is how it works .Unfavourable review posted .Within 30 minutes the Bricks police are on the case reporting it to Trustpilot.
Example
https://uk.trustpilot.com/users/5852a1460000ff000a620cab
Yes,Trustpilot do the checking but unless you have taken a screenshot of a chat or an email /proof of attendance by Bricks valuer etc they will remove it . As PB are unlikley to report unverified favourable reviewws to Truspilot these are not policed or checkedfor authenticity it goes way beyond gaming the situation to outright manipualtion Since the Trustpilot Rating underpins their whole advertising camapaign its totally misleading .
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You are wrong again. Review published 16 hours ago. Reported 2 hours ago. So it was there for 14 hours.
This one is a better example and was reported immediately: https://uk.trustpilot.com/users/572c82bf0000ff000a1db783
A lot of businesses I worked for in the past had malicious 1 star reviews posted on their profiles and we, rightly, had them removed. Once people started learning that the reviews could be removed that all slowed down and pretty much stopped recently.
PB do not do anything that other businesses with an online profile do not do.
I have never seen any estate agents website publish a negative review on their ‘reviews’ or ‘testimonials’ page. Have we agents never had a bad customer experience and should we be publishing it for all to see or should we play to our strengths because we actually think we are good agents all said and done?
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IF PB are listing as has been claimed 3000 properties a month and are selling 88% of them (as was claimed on radio 4) there are apparently 2640 happy customers each month that have sold their property, saved thousands and got one over on over charging traditional estate agents.
One of the reviews on trust pilot mentioned how the listing reps are rewarded with holidays for getting favourable reviews.
Why do you think after 30 or so months there are comparatively so few 5* reviews? 4 good months of happy vendors would be more reviews than they have got in total at present.
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Read what I have said as a whole, don’t just pick points and pounce on them. Of course PB look like they are gaming the system.
Clearly Yopa, PB, Ewemove are rewarding their reps otherwise why would each review name the agent and be so ‘gushing’?
I have made a lot points which have not been answered directly to. So no point going over the same thing again and again.
Reviews are hard to collect, no matter how easy TP makes it to leave one. You seem to think every customer is going to leave a review or they somehow PB have a way of blocking customers leaving a review. Otherwise, I do not fully understand your point.
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For the sake of argument let’s say they list 3,000 properties per month for 30 months. That’s 90,000 potential reviews. We know it’s less but let’s not worry about that for a minute.
They have 11,072 reviews posted. So that’s 12% conversion. That about 10-15 times too high from my experience.
But it’s a similar story with Ewemove. Probably other agents too.
So again, why the obsession with PB?
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Arm yourself with some meaningful numbers and you’ll understand the concentration on Purplebricks.
Ewemove are quietly building a good company, getting on with the job of selling property, there is nothing I can see that warrants any comparison with Purpletricks, Emoov, Housesimple, Yopa and the other internet listing firms.
Their stories are contradictory and do not stand scrutiny, they are aimed at what Bruce describes as “sheep investors” rather than an informed audience.
The manipulation of Trustpilot, the lack of reviews compared with claimed performance robs both firms of any credibility in my opinion. You are entitled to be in awe of them, carry on.
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Some of you may have noticed that the Bruce brothers seem rather slow in answering a couple of very simple questions I keep putting to them.
1. Were all of your LPEs’ registered with an approved redress scheme, as required in law, prior to June 2016?
2. Were and are, all of your LPEs’ registered with HMRC for money laundering and with the ICO for data protection as legally required?
One LPE and territory manager, contacted me on LinkedIn yesterday to add me. A quick check on her profile and at companies house showed she had been trading as an LPE since September 2015. She only became legally registered for HMRC in July 2017 and isn’t showing on the ICO register.
TPO don’t release dates of membership activation as yet, but my guess is that this LPE was not a member of the TPO or any other scheme, prior to June of 2016. That is just one LPE. I have checked others and found many more besides who appear to have an unexplained gap between their start date with PB and of registration with the required bodies. The NTSEAT has been informed.
If you wish to check your local LPE this is the process:
1. Go to companies house or similar and search the persons name as a live Director and the postcode they operate from. Then establish their company name and number: https://companycheck.co.uk/dashboard
2. Check this against the ‘find a member’ section of the TPO https://www.tpos.co.uk/find-a-member (post June 2016 most are now registered); against the HMRC money laundering register https://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/msbregister/checkTerms.do and on the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) https://ico.org.uk/esdwebpages/search
3. Do not post any anomalies that you may discover which may considered defamatory on PIE or social media. Instead, contact Leigh Hammond at NTSEAT, The TPOS, The ICO and HMRC and, please email me, as I have a number of broadsheet and broadcast journalists who are very interested in this story.
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Chris,
What’s your email address as I have 2 LPE’s in Leicestershire & Nottinghamshire who don’t seem to be on TPO, HMRC or ICO register ? Pretty much a full house !
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Thanks. Sorted and reported.
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The 114 minutes referred to in that example does not tell you whether PB hadnt got on the case within 30 minutes . I had a phone call from somebody purporting to be PB, s area manager wihin 30 minutesof a post one Saturday morning Anyway moving on
“PB do not do anything that other businesses with an online profile do not do.”
Not many businesses make their Trustpilot Rating a central part of their multi milion £ TV campaign .
Yo seem to be overly supportive of what can only be seen as unsavoury behaviour. Are you a LPE?
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You initially stated they reported the review after 30 minutes but now you’ve changed it ‘they’re on the case within 30 minutes’.
Review reported 3 hours ago. Review left between 16 and 17 hours ago.
Moot point in any case.
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It’s amazing looking at the posts on this story you’d think PB shares would be dropping but their not.
Whilst I get the sentiment of saving “£0000’s” by not using a traditional estate agent, what I don’t get are the numbers PB should be performing to keep in profit.
Do the stock market analysts have information that Mr Wood, Mr May, Pee bee and others don’t have? Because something ain’t right ! Do share buyers just invest based on mood swings, entrails of a dead fish and a roulette wheel?
Any answers ? Anyone ?
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On 10 negatives !
I’m slipping !
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Congratulations, Property Paddy – you’ve gorn and attracted yourself your very own loyal Plank, who will now faithfully batter the ‘Dislike’ button like a demented Duracell bunny on var nigh anything you care to post.
Trust me – you’ll get used to it! ;o)
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There… see! ;o)
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I think everyone believes they have turned the ‘profit corner’ after their recent press release…..even if it was some strange convoluted way to derive a profit that I for one don’t understand. So investors are seeing it as a one direction momentum now. It is going to be such an interesting report in June for the results up to April next year to see if a way is found to maintain that momentum….which is why all the interest in their current listing numbers.
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Let’s be clear about this ….PB cannot be successful to he extent they want to be unless they drive some of us independents out of business and take our market share!!! That’s my understanding anyway. If anyone disagrees then post.
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Put in wring place sorry;
Let’s be clear about this ….PB cannot be successful to he extent they want to be unless they drive some of us independents out of business and take our market share!!! That’s my understanding anyway. If anyone disagrees then post.
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This is why their truthful results matter a great deal.
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Investors aren’t stupid, when there is a bit of good news (even if untruths) they will buy…When the price starts dropping or when the truth comes out they will sell. Investors are looking for the quick big buck. When PB can no longer hide the truth the shares will plummet.
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There’s a good news story here.
🙂
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Is anyone else having problems with the ‘like button’. It just won’t let me register.
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I’m sure that’s why I’m getting all the dislikes….always blame the system!
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