Appointment of new Purplebricks CEO delayed...

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04 April 2022

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By Marc Shoffman

TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Appointment of new Purplebricks CEO delayed

Mystery surrounds the appointment of Purplebricks new chief executive following a stockmarket update this morning.

Helena Marston was due to start as chief executive for the online agent today.

But a stockmarket update this morning has said the appointment is still subject to the completion of due diliegence checks.

The announcement says: "Further to the announcement on 10 March 2022 relating to the appointment of Helena Marston as chief executive officer, the company announces that due diligence checks required by the AIM Rules are ongoing and therefore Helena's appointment remains subject to completion of these checks."

"A further announcement will be made a soon as possible."

Purplebricks has been asked for further comment.

Marston only joined Purplebricks in May 2020 as chief people officer and took over the role of chief operating officer at the end of 2021.

She has no estate agency experience outside of Purplebricks, having held human resources roles at Virgin Media, Kuwait Energy, Jaguar Land Rover and Vodafone.

Marston was due to replace Vic Darvey, who quit last month for "personal reasons."

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- Algarve Investor
- 04 April 2022 08:45 AM
Just the latest farce for a company that moves from scandal to scandal, and can't seem to halt its downward spiral.
Robert May

04 April 2022 08:55 AM
It's not scandal as such, the business model is wrong; taking any Joe Blow and giving them a title expert set them up to under deliver. At their peak the had about 750 listers who were attempting to compete with 5 Nests of #local agents. That's about 30 agencies who were known and respected, who had a track record of selling property. "You don't know me but I'm an expert- honest! and I'm cheap" is fine until the public understand the reality behind the claim. We're cheap for a reason!
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- Andrew Stanton PROPTECH-PR A Consultancy for Proptech Founders
- 04 April 2022 09:27 AM
Someone asked me the other day if being a Proptech Realestate Influencer was a real thing ... my answer is that very often when I post a few words, some of the most influential people in real estate on the globe, pick up the phone and call me.

Not only do I 'speak' to over 100,000 people daily across many social media platforms and publications, including one as a an editor the other as an owner, I also have 38 years of connections, so when I 'say something' - people 'think' about it. I am not saying they agree or even like what I communicate - but it does have often far reaching consequences.

So I repost my comment from a few days ago ...

'Is having no agency experience a problem if you are the CEO of a national agency?

After Alison Platt did the same thing, she was a NED at Tesco's and became CEO of Countrywide PLC, the UK's largest estate agency group from 2014 to January 2018.

Wait a minute she did have to resign after overseeing a 90% fall in the company's share price and a second profit warning in three months. Then the company stumbled along until the Connells Group bought the assets, and its C-suite made up of career property professionals made profit within 12-months.

Maybe Purplebricks should have a rethink, as a 90% haircut off the share price which today is 23p, would mean that it would be 2.3p a share - unthinkable, well so is trading at 23p on the AIM.

Purplebricks future all hinges on once again fuzzy logic ... we will let someone who has never sold a property in their life as an agent - run the show.'

And leave you to wonder if following this - anyone made that call to me.

- jan byers
- 05 April 2022 13:12 PM
"Not only do I 'speak' to over 100,000 people daily across many social media platforms"
This and PIE are the only social media I use . You must try to get a real life if you spend so much time on rubbish.

"when I 'say something' - people 'think' about it - but it does have often far reaching consequences."
No they do not- I have yet to meet one other person who has even heard of you

"And leave you to wonder if following this - anyone made that call to me."
Of course they did not
1 you are irrelevant
2 you are not an estate agent