TIDMPURP
RNS Number : 0713I
Purplebricks Group PLC
10 August 2021
10 August 2021
Purplebricks Group plc
("Purplebricks" or "Company")
Purplebricks to move to fully employed status for its local
property agents
Purplebricks, the UK's leading tech-led estate agent, announces
that it intends to move to a fully employed model for its Field
sales agents, with the transition commencing today.
Updated business model to support growth
Since its foundation in 2014, Purplebricks' disruptive model has
resulted in the Company achieving the position of being the
best-known and largest estate agency brand in the UK in its drive
to deliver on medium-term market share targets.
The Company launched new pricing structures in July 2021,
including a Money Back Guarantee and a simplified two-tier
proposition. The national roll-out of these structures is underway
and, as previously guided, the Board remains confident that these
strategies will accelerate revenue growth, increase market share
and drive progress towards the Group's medium-term targets over the
coming years.
The move to a fully employed model for Purplebricks' agents
represents a further enhancement to the Company's business model,
following a review of how the Company can best serve its customers,
support its field teams in the future, and meet the demands of a
strong market.
Strategic rationale for move to fully employed status
The Board now believes that moving to a fully employed model
will ensure that the Company can scale up quickly to meet consumer
demand and, to that end, the Company has already created a talent
pool of over 100 of the best agents in the industry who are ready
to join it as opportunities arise.
Having ownership over the recruitment, training and management
of a unified high-performing team will support the delivery of a
consistently high level of service to Purplebricks' customers
across the country, including an enhanced opportunity to increase
ancillary revenues.
Additionally, it will provide greater security and benefits to
incentivise Purplebricks' agents. The Company's newly employed
sales team will enjoy a highly incentivised package with the
ability to work flexibly and remotely, in keeping with the
Purplebricks entrepreneurial ethos and changes to ways of working
that have come about because of the pandemic. Agents will also
benefit from the rights that come with employee status as well as
having access to many new opportunities for career development and
growth.
Outlook and guidance
As guided in July 2021, it remains too early to quantify the
benefit from the new pricing structures to the current financial
year.
As a result of the move to a fully employed model, the Company
is expected to incur exceptional non-recurring costs of c. GBP3-4m
in FY22, with ongoing administration costs expected to be c. GBP1m
higher in FY22 and beyond to support the increased size of the
team.
The Board is committed to driving market share growth and there
will also be significant increased investment in a new marketing
campaign later this year, with the result that marketing costs for
FY22 are expected to be c. GBP3-4m higher than previous
guidance.
The Company's medium-term guidance remains unchanged, and the
Board continues to expect Purplebricks to be able to deliver annual
revenue growth in excess of 20% in the medium-term, with confidence
in the Group's ability to deliver against its growth strategy.
Commenting on this announcement, Purplebricks CEO Vic Darvey,
said:
"I am proud to be announcing plans to make our sales team
permanent employees. The pandemic highlighted the challenges of
being self-employed for many people - which is why we created the
GBP2.2m fund to support the agency field during recent challenging
times. As normality returns, we believe that moving to a fully
employed sales model will benefit and support our people and make
Purplebricks fit for the future.
Not only will this enable us to better protect and incentivise
our agents, it will also allow us to scale up quickly to meet
consumer demand, and continue to deliver a high quality, locally
based service for our customers. It will also ensure that we can
continue to drive a more consistent, high-performance culture and
experience for all of our customers, helping us deliver a next
generation estate agency service to buyers and sellers alike.
The Board strongly believes this move will increase market share
and enhance performance in the coming years."
-Ends-
For further information, please contact
Purplebricks +44 (0)20 7466 5000
Fiona O'Nolan, Equitory, Investor Relations investors@purplebricks.com
Zeus Capital (NOMAD) + 44 (0)20 3829 5000
Daniel Harris, Nick Cowles
Citi +44 (0) 207 986 4000
Stuart Field, Robert Farrington
Peel Hunt +44 (0)20 7418 8900
Dan Webster, George Sellar
Buchanan +44 (0)20 7466 5000
David Rydell, Jamie Hooper, Kim van Beeck
Forward-looking statements
This announcement includes statements that are, or may be
considered to be, "forward-looking statements". By their nature,
such statements involve risk and uncertainty since they relate to
future events and circumstances. Results may, and often do, differ
materially from forward-looking statements previously made. Any
forward-looking statements in this announcement reflect
management's view with respect to future events as at the date of
this announcement. Except as required by law or by the AIM Rules of
the London Stock Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to
publicly revise any forward-looking statements in this announcement
following any change in its expectations to reflect subsequent
events or circumstances.
About Purplebricks
Purplebricks is a leading technology-led estate agency business,
based in the UK. Purplebricks combines highly experienced and
professional local property experts and innovative technology to
help make the process of selling, buying or letting more
convenient, transparent and cost effective. Purplebricks shares are
traded on the London Stock Exchange AIM market.
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