Troubling times at the EA office indeed

[spunko]

Sure it's PurpleBricks who aren't as scummy as a lot of the rest of them, but my tiny violin is playing.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/purplebricks-ready-to-shed-more-than-a-tenth-of-staff-lhvg6z8hb

The share price has collapsed:

I assume it will go under when new instructions tank even lower in 2023.

The first of many.

 

[spygirl]

2 hours ago, spunko said:

Sure it's PurpleBricks who aren't as scummy as a lot of the rest of them, but my tiny violin is playing.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/purplebricks-ready-to-shed-more-than-a-tenth-of-staff-lhvg6z8hb

The share price has collapsed:

I assume it will go under when new instructions tank even lower in 2023.

The first of many.

 

Oh not even close spunky.

https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2022/4/purplebricks-finally-confirms-appointment-of-new-ceo?source=newsticker

Following a series of unexplained delays, Helena Marston has now finally been confirmed as the new chief executive of beleaguered agency Purplebricks. 

 

Phwoaor!

 

In line with these rules, the following disclosures have also been made:  

-  Marston, aged 39, does not currently hold any directorships or partnerships, nor has she held any directorships or partnerships within the past five years. 

-  Marston holds options over 1,983,282 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company under the Purplebricks Performance Share Plan at an exercise price of 1p per share. 

OK .... got to start somewhere ....

-  Marston voluntarily declared herself bankrupt in September 2014 owing approximately £103,000 to creditors. This was discharged in September 2015. 

Er you what?

She previously held human resources roles at Virgin Media, Kuwait Energy, Jaguar Land Rover and Vodafone.

However, her official appointment on April 4 was mysteriously delayed, with due diligence checks not yet complete.

You treble fuckign you what?

It was then reported by The Telegraph that the checks were taking longer than expected because Marston had a previous personal bankruptcy that was not revealed to Purplebricks’ shareholders when her appointment to the role was announced to the markets on March 10 - and something that has now been confirmed in the note to the LSE.

You mean she lied?

 

 

 

 

[King Penda]

56 minutes ago, spygirl said:

Oh not even close spunky.

https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2022/4/purplebricks-finally-confirms-appointment-of-new-ceo?source=newsticker

Following a series of unexplained delays, Helena Marston has now finally been confirmed as the new chief executive of beleaguered agency Purplebricks. 

 

Phwoaor!

 

In line with these rules, the following disclosures have also been made:  

-  Marston, aged 39, does not currently hold any directorships or partnerships, nor has she held any directorships or partnerships within the past five years. 

-  Marston holds options over 1,983,282 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company under the Purplebricks Performance Share Plan at an exercise price of 1p per share. 

OK .... got to start somewhere ....

-  Marston voluntarily declared herself bankrupt in September 2014 owing approximately £103,000 to creditors. This was discharged in September 2015. 

Er you what?

She previously held human resources roles at Virgin Media, Kuwait Energy, Jaguar Land Rover and Vodafone.

However, her official appointment on April 4 was mysteriously delayed, with due diligence checks not yet complete.

You treble fuckign you what?

It was then reported by The Telegraph that the checks were taking longer than expected because Marston had a previous personal bankruptcy that was not revealed to Purplebricks’ shareholders when her appointment to the role was announced to the markets on March 10 - and something that has now been confirmed in the note to the LSE.

You mean she lied?

 

 

 

 

She goes from doing interviews to running a big firm what could possably go wrong it’s like puting me in charge of diversity training 

[One percent]

7 minutes ago, King Penda said:

She goes from doing interviews to running a big firm what could possably go wrong it’s like puting me in charge of diversity training 

I think you would make an ideal equality and diversity officer.  

[Stuey]

18 minutes ago, One percent said:

I think you would make an ideal equality and diversity officer.  

The NHS Diversity dude I know is the biggest racist of the lot. He knows their shit & "tactics" inside out. 

[spunko]

1 hour ago, spygirl said:

Oh not even close spunky.

https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2022/4/purplebricks-finally-confirms-appointment-of-new-ceo?source=newsticker

Following a series of unexplained delays, Helena Marston has now finally been confirmed as the new chief executive of beleaguered agency Purplebricks. 

 

Phwoaor!

 

In line with these rules, the following disclosures have also been made:  

-  Marston, aged 39, does not currently hold any directorships or partnerships, nor has she held any directorships or partnerships within the past five years. 

-  Marston holds options over 1,983,282 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company under the Purplebricks Performance Share Plan at an exercise price of 1p per share. 

OK .... got to start somewhere ....

-  Marston voluntarily declared herself bankrupt in September 2014 owing approximately £103,000 to creditors. This was discharged in September 2015. 

Er you what?

She previously held human resources roles at Virgin Media, Kuwait Energy, Jaguar Land Rover and Vodafone.

However, her official appointment on April 4 was mysteriously delayed, with due diligence checks not yet complete.

You treble fuckign you what?

It was then reported by The Telegraph that the checks were taking longer than expected because Marston had a previous personal bankruptcy that was not revealed to Purplebricks’ shareholders when her appointment to the role was announced to the markets on March 10 - and something that has now been confirmed in the note to the LSE.

You mean she lied?

 

 

 

 

She's even worse than Sharon White ,  unlike her they've genuinely installed this bimbo bankrupt to rescue the company rather than run it into the ground so that plots can be sold off to Redrow. WTF of the day.

[Boon]

4 hours ago, spunko said:

 

 

I assume it will go under when new instructions tank even lower in 2023.

The first of many.

 

Personally I think this is an interesting situation myself.

They have no bank debt and £31m cash. They are loss making, but this has covered up that the UK segment has been OK, every single expansion into another country has been a failure and expensive. Hence the huge destruction of shareholder value seen in the historic price.

Cash burn according to the house brokers is said to be around £6-7m for the next half year, and then positive for the next year. So not in danger of equity raise; I doubt they will be chasing overseas expansion again.

Today's note was of activist shareholding trying to throw out the chairman and replace him with Harry Hill (ex Rightmove/Countrywide), obviously much needed to balance out the inexperienced management team.

Listing volumes have fallen sharply - the number of listings on Rightmove dropped by about half in the pandemic. So you could argue Purplebricks lost half its business as well, maybe more as people switched to competitors.

I do think listing volumes will go higher in 2023 than 2022, as people are forced out due to costs, but also people wanting to bank whatever gains they have, plus those who realise that upsizing is cheaper in a falling market.

I also do think that if Hill comes in the product will become better and there may be a niche for them, especially in a market where people have lost money. Ie if you have a likely gain of £100k you may not mind paying Foxtons £10k to try and squeeze the bidders. If you have a likely loss of £50k, a £10k fee might seem to be adding insult to injury. And with the ultra-cheap ones you have to do the viewings yourself, so not suitable for many.

I think this could drop lower but end up multi-bagging.

 

[spygirl]

15 minutes ago, spunko said:

She's even worse than Sharon White ,  unlike her they've genuinely installed this bimbo bankrupt to rescue the company rather than run it into the ground so that plots can be sold off to Redrow. WTF of the day.

The only assets PB have is, err, hers.

 

[spygirl]

33 minutes ago, Boon said:

Personally I think this is an interesting situation myself.

They have no bank debt and £31m cash. They are loss making, but this has covered up that the UK segment has been OK, every single expansion into another country has been a failure and expensive. Hence the huge destruction of shareholder value seen in the historic price.

Cash burn according to the house brokers is said to be around £6-7m for the next half year, and then positive for the next year. So not in danger of equity raise; I doubt they will be chasing overseas expansion again.

Today's note was of activist shareholding trying to throw out the chairman and replace him with Harry Hill (ex Rightmove/Countrywide), obviously much needed to balance out the inexperienced management team.

Listing volumes have fallen sharply - the number of listings on Rightmove dropped by about half in the pandemic. So you could argue Purplebricks lost half its business as well, maybe more as people switched to competitors.

I do think listing volumes will go higher in 2023 than 2022, as people are forced out due to costs, but also people wanting to bank whatever gains they have, plus those who realise that upsizing is cheaper in a falling market.

I also do think that if Hill comes in the product will become better and there may be a niche for them, especially in a market where people have lost money. Ie if you have a likely gain of £100k you may not mind paying Foxtons £10k to try and squeeze the bidders. If you have a likely loss of £50k, a £10k fee might seem to be adding insult to injury. And with the ultra-cheap ones you have to do the viewings yourself, so not suitable for many.

I think this could drop lower but end up multi-bagging.

 

Money in a company isnt like money in your wallet.

Theyll burn through al that cash before they go bust.

Theres a high prob that the money is already promised to someelse/spent and just temporary going thru PB books.

Id be surprised if it last 12 months.

 

 

[Funn3r]

10 minutes ago, spygirl said:

Money in a company isnt like money in your wallet.

Theyll burn through al that cash before they go bust.

Theres a high prob that the money is already promised to someelse/spent and just temporary going thru PB books.

Id be surprised if it last 12 months.

 

 

Why did they choose that stupid name anyway. 

When I was a kid half the town were Indian/Paki immigrants but nobody was too bothered. In those days everybody worked and they could see the pakis grafting in the cotton mills same as them and not spongeing. What really used to get people going though was when they bought a terraced house the first thing they would do is paint the exterior brickwork in bright gloss paint. The hard "Accrington" brick was excellent to paint on.  Purple colour was a real favourite as well. Whenever I hear Purple Bricks that's what I think of.

[Boon]

52 minutes ago, spygirl said:

Money in a company isnt like money in your wallet.

Theyll burn through al that cash before they go bust.

Theres a high prob that the money is already promised to someelse/spent and just temporary going thru PB books.

Id be surprised if it last 12 months.

 

 

Wouldn't that be shown on the balance sheet as a liability then? The latest balance sheet was at Dec 8 this month on their half-year.

In a similar vain I can't stand Uber Eats or Deliveroo, they are also burning through cash. I'd like to claim they too are going bust in the next year but they raised money when the going was good, so they will be around for some time yet.

Separating emotion from logic, at certain prices everything could be a viable investment.

If you do think (and I suspect you do) that there will be plenty of people selling up next year and plenty of people actually realising their paper gains aren't real and they are not as rich as they thought, that is going to favour cheaper estate agents.

[spygirl]

11 minutes ago, Boon said:

Wouldn't that be shown on the balance sheet as a liability then? The latest balance sheet was at Dec 8 this month on their half-year.

In a similar vain I can't stand Uber Eats or Deliveroo, they are also burning through cash. I'd like to claim they too are going bust in the next year but they raised money when the going was good, so they will be around for some time yet.

Separating emotion from logic, at certain prices everything could be a viable investment.

If you do think (and I suspect you do) that there will be plenty of people selling up next year and plenty of people actually realising their paper gains aren't real and they are not as rich as they thought, that is going to favour cheaper estate agents.

Balance sheet look backwards.

 

[MrXxxx]

3 hours ago, spygirl said:

Oh not even close spunky.

https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2022/4/purplebricks-finally-confirms-appointment-of-new-ceo?source=newsticker

Following a series of unexplained delays, Helena Marston has now finally been confirmed as the new chief executive of beleaguered agency Purplebricks. 

 

Phwoaor!

 

In line with these rules, the following disclosures have also been made:  

-  Marston, aged 39, does not currently hold any directorships or partnerships, nor has she held any directorships or partnerships within the past five years. 

-  Marston holds options over 1,983,282 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company under the Purplebricks Performance Share Plan at an exercise price of 1p per share. 

OK .... got to start somewhere ....

-  Marston voluntarily declared herself bankrupt in September 2014 owing approximately £103,000 to creditors. This was discharged in September 2015. 

Er you what?

She previously held human resources roles at Virgin Media, Kuwait Energy, Jaguar Land Rover and Vodafone.

However, her official appointment on April 4 was mysteriously delayed, with due diligence checks not yet complete.

You treble fuckign you what?

It was then reported by The Telegraph that the checks were taking longer than expected because Marston had a previous personal bankruptcy that was not revealed to Purplebricks’ shareholders when her appointment to the role was announced to the markets on March 10 - and something that has now been confirmed in the note to the LSE.

You mean she lied?

 

 

 

 

Gross Misconduct charge before she has even started the job!

[JoeDavola]

‘Proper’ EA’s over here must make the majority of their income from charging landlords to manage properties, don’t see how else they’re paying the bills at the moment since so little is selling.

[spygirl]

11 minutes ago, JoeDavola said:

‘Proper’ EA’s over here must make the majority of their income from charging landlords to manage properties, don’t see how else they’re paying the bills at the moment since so little is selling.

As Ive repeately said, in England, EAs had been making most of their cash from ripping off tenants since 2008.

Theres just not enough sales to support even the pretence of an office.

Since letting fees were banned EAs must be blowing off tramps in the park for loose change.

 

 

 

 

[AlfredTheLittle]

2 minutes ago, spygirl said:

As Ive repeately said, in England, EAs had been making most of their cash from ripping off tenants since 2008.

Theres just not enough sales to support even the pretence of an office.

Since letting fees were banned EAs must be blowing off tramps in the park for loose change.

 

 

 

 

They've just transferred the bulk of charges to the landlord, which is fine I don't mind them ripping each other off 

[The Masked Tulip]

They need to move into a more lucrative part of the property sector.

The property developer whose lavish life of golf holidays and luxury watches was funded by drug ring

Matthew Cleary cried as he and his accomplice Mikel Kujtila were sentenced for their Cardiff cannabis conspiracy

 

A property developer funded his lavish lifestyle with the help of a large-scale cannabis operation. Matthew Cleary and his accomplice Mikel Kujtila profited from eight cannabis factories in and around Cardiff in a conspiracy thought to have involved more than 100kg of the Class B drug, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Tom Stanway told the court that Cleary, 34, was living in a "high-spec" Llandaff home containing large flat-screen TVs in most rooms and luxury watches worth as much as £40,000. He enjoyed golfing at the Algarve's exclusive Monte Rei club and had amassed a collection of high-value clothing and trainers. But his wealth was not just the fruit of property work which, he later told police, only earned him around £35,000 a year.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-developer-whose-lavish-life-25810406

[Axeman123]

17 minutes ago, The Masked Tulip said:

But his wealth was not just the fruit of property work which, he later told police, only earned him around £35,000 a year.

I suspect that BTL "wealth" has largely been a mirage this whole time, and that the vast majority of free spending BTLers have either been laundering dirty money or living on debt to keep up a pretense.

[The Masked Tulip]

10 minutes ago, Axeman123 said:

I suspect that BTL "wealth" has largely been a mirage this whole time, and that the vast majority of free spending BTLers have either been laundering dirty money or living on debt to keep up a pretense.

 

There's a chap who lives near. A 'builder'. My neighbours are in awe of him having a different very expensive new car each week. He has a local lad clean and polish them after he uses them for a few days then they disappear. T

OK, he might have won a 100 mill on the euromillions but he screams drug dealer to me - the cars being the means of laundering cash? I appear to be the only person who can see this though. I must have been hanging around on here too long

[Axeman123]

1 minute ago, The Masked Tulip said:

a different very expensive new car each week. He has a local lad clean and polish them after he uses them for a few days then they disappear.

More than likely rentals IMO, it is also likely that the valeting is part of the handback process and the local lad is employed by the rentals company to inspect for damage.

Supercar rentals are very popular with drug dealers, as they can turn several grand a week of cash into lifestyle and "glamour" no-questions-asked. In fairness it is also popular with crypto or influencer types, as a way to boost their instagram etc clout by posting pics with the cars etc. In both cases they will probably claim to have such a big car collection that it needs a dedicated storage building and full time staff etc, by way of cover.

[The Masked Tulip]

6 minutes ago, Axeman123 said:

More than likely rentals IMO, it is also likely that the valeting is part of the handback process and the local lad is employed by the rentals company to inspect for damage.

Supercar rentals are very popular with drug dealers, as they can turn several grand a week of cash into lifestyle and "glamour" no-questions-asked. In fairness it is also popular with crypto or influencer types, as a way to boost their instagram etc clout by posting pics with the cars etc. In both cases they will probably claim to have such a big car collection that it needs a dedicated storage building and full time staff etc, by way of cover.

 

The lad is basically employed by him. But the rest of your drugs theory may be correct.

[Axeman123]

2 minutes ago, The Masked Tulip said:

The lad is basically employed by him. But the rest of your drugs theory may be correct.

As weird as it sounds, having supercars valeted on the driveway is almost a "conspicuous luxury" for some people. It is an extra layer of look at how wealthy I am, and the activity both draws attention to the car and gives an excuse to have it out of the garage on display. They can also then post glowing social media stuff about the detailers' work as an excuse to show off the car.

Maybe otherwise he is just making sure they don't screw him on the deposit, or maybe the company are happy to have him prep the car for the next renter and have worked out a deal. He may even have a stake in the business.

[Malthus]

The problem for EA’s that was shown up during the 50% plus drop in house prices in NI 2007/8 is that their are not just middle men/women/whatever who take a nice commission for making deals between seller and buyer 

They are mostly players in the game as well either directly as landlords or with their local scum lord mates , who they help to snap up the choice deals imho 

Price drops should mean nothing to agents as long as there are plenty of people moving, which I predict there will be this spring 

[spygirl]

1 hour ago, The Masked Tulip said:

 

There's a chap who lives near. A 'builder'. My neighbours are in awe of him having a different very expensive new car each week. He has a local lad clean and polish them after he uses them for a few days then they disappear. T

OK, he might have won a 100 mill on the euromillions but he screams drug dealer to me - the cars being the means of laundering cash? I appear to be the only person who can see this though. I must have been hanging around on here too long

In short, yes.

Gather up a load of cash the  off load the cash to unwitting private seller.

Sell car somewhere else.

 

[Axeman123]

37 minutes ago, spygirl said:

In short, yes.

Gather up a load of cash the  off load the cash to unwitting private seller.

Sell car somewhere else.

 

It would obviously depend on the seller and the car, but for six figure exotics* (Lambo/Ferrari etc) would many legitimate sellers really want a carrier bag of used twenties?

(*assuming this is the sort of car involved of course)