The announcement, which covers the 12 months to April 2023, revealed that the company was undergoing a strategic review after its turnaround plan was impacting its sales business.
The company said the implementation of its turnaround plan to return to profitability “continued at pace” but involved more disruption to its sales than expected as it worked to achieve the required cost savings and efficiency improvement.
It said this resulted in £1.2m of one-off costs during the first six months of its yearly trading period which led to lower instruction numbers in Q3.
In response to the lower instructions, Purplebricks has identified a further £4m in cost savings, which will be achieved by “streamlining the lettings business and more conservative investment in the ramp up of the mortgages business”.
Purplebricks launched its mortgage advice arm in December last year.
The group now expects to deliver revenue of between £60m and £65m for the full year 2023 and a loss of between £15m and £20m. It then expects to see positive cash generation by the start of 2024.
It said: “The board recognises that the potential of the group may be better realised under an alternative ownership structure, and has, therefore, decided to conduct a strategic review of the group’s business with the aim of delivering maximum value for shareholders.”
Purplebricks has appointed Zeus as its financial adviser to assist with the review which it said “may or may not result in a sale of the company or some or all of the group’s business and assets”.
Helena Marston, CEO of Purplebricks, said: “We have undertaken a huge amount of work in the last nine months to improve our sales business, raise standards, establish Purplebricks Financial Services, and stabilise lettings, all of which means the company has never been in better shape for the future.
“Yes, the actions we have taken have caused more short-term disruption to our Q3 performance than anticipated, but we remain confident in returning to positive cash generation in early FY24. We recognise that our upside potential is not currently reflected in our market valuation, which is why the entire board has therefore concluded that a strategic review is now in the best interests of all shareholders.”
