Purplebricks still in red as revenue falls below expectations

Purplebricks has again blamed a sharp slowdown in the number of homes being put up for sale for a £10m shortfall in revenue last year. In a short stock exchange announcement, the online estate agent warned investors that revenue for the year to the end of April totalled around £70m, compared with £91m in the previous 12 months. The City had expected revenue to come in at nearer to £80m. The top-line miss will feed down to the bottom line, with Purplebricks now forecasting an underlying loss of £8.8m for the year – 10% more than analysts had previously estimated. It also burnt through cash at a rate of almost £600,000 a week last year, having seen its cash balance reduce to £43.2m at the end of April from £74m 12 months earlier. Purplebricks, which will publish its full results in July, said its underperformance was brought on by a 31% drop in net instructions compared with the year before. Between May 2021 and April 2022, its agents helped to sell 40,141 homes. In the year before, it sold 58,043. The Times (£)