Purplebricks UK revenue to more than double in first half

AIM-listed hybrid estate agency Purplebricks said on Friday that UK revenue for the first half is expected to have more than doubled compared to the previous year following “strong” progress across the business since May.

In an update for the period from 1 May to 28 September, the company said trading in the UK and Australia remains on course to meet the full-year guidance provided at the final results in June, with revenue of £80m for the UK and £12m for Australia.

It added that first-half revenues in the UK are likely to be more than double from the same period a year ago and be "many times" ahead in Australia, although they had only been trading two months in the comparable period.

Purplebricks said its launch in the US, which kicked off with Los Angeles on 15 September, was ahead of plan and has gone “smoothly”. The initial response to its US TV advertising campaign has been encouraging, with the volume of website visits and valuations booked ahead of both the UK and Australia at the same period in their development. In addition, the company received its first buy side mandate soon after its launch campaign went live.

Chief executive Michael Bruce said: "Launching into the US market is an important and proud moment in the company's three year history. The level of hard work, commitment and dedication from the team to achieve this, while continuing to deliver on UK and Australian expansion, is testament to the culture and breadth of talent within our business.

“We will continue to invest in infrastructure and teams to support our rapid growth, while our focus will remain on providing an excellent customer experience. We are relentless at working to ensure we understand our customers' needs and meet their expectations and are proud of our 27,000 Trustpilot reviews and our NPS score of +80. Considerable progress has been made across the group in the financial year to date and we are confident in our future and in meeting the board's full year expectations."

At 0900 BST, the shares were up 2.2% to 379.76p.