Darvey leaves Purplebricks for ‘personal reasons’

The chief executive of Purplebricks will leave his post at the end of this month for “personal reasons”. Vic Darvey joined the online-only agent in January 2019 before taking over as chief executive a few months later, replacing Michael Bruce, the group’s founder. Darvey led the company’s retreat from the Australian and US markets after a failed, expensive expansion under the previous management. He then overhauled the business model, bringing in-house its previously self-employed “local property experts” and offering refunds to customers whose houses it was struggling to sell. A huge profit warning in November, which it blamed on a shortage of homes being put up for sale, knocked nearly 40% off its stock market value. Purplebricks’ troubles were compounded when it admitted that it had not been sending legally required documents to tenants explaining that their deposits had been placed into a protection scheme. Since Darvey took over less than three years ago, the share price has fallen by 88%. It rose 1p, or 7.5%, to 15½p yesterday. The Times (£) The FT (£)