Purplebricks sold in £1 deal

SHAREHOLDERS have backed a £1 rescue deal for the troubled online agents Purplebricks, which was worth £1.4bn at the height of its success.

A bid by fellow rival portal Strike, which sees it take on “substantially all” of the company’s debts for a token consideration, was approved by 91pc of investors at Purplebricks’ general meeting yesterday.

It brings a long-running saga over the future of the troubled platform to an end, after Purplebricks put itself up for sale in February.

Shares in the company fell to a record low of 1p in May after it emerged that Strike had pulled out of a formal sale process, while a major shareholder withdrew a rival £1.5m rescue bid this week.

The two businesses will eventually merge under the Purplebricks brand, with the combined company to be known as Bricks Newco.

Purplebricks’ board, including chairman Paul Pindar and chief executive Helen Marston, will stand down, but finance chief Dominique Highfield will remain. Sam Mitchell, chief executive of Strike, said: yesterday: “We are delighted that shareholders have voted in favour of bringing Purplebricks together with Strike to build a new force in UK estate agency.”

Strike had put forward a £1 bid to buy its rival last month, with Purplebricks set to retain a maximum of £5.5m of cash reserves to be distrib- uted among its shareholders.

Sir Charles Dunstone, the entrepreneur who backed Strike, said he planned to fold the two businesses under the Purplebricks name to compete in the online listings market. It will offer a low-cost listings model for people looking to sell properties online, charging for services rather than a commission based on the value of the home.

Sir Charles said Purplebricks had “lost its way” arguing that it has not dif- fered itself from high street estate agents enough as its prices were too high. He warned of job cuts if performance does not improve.

Purplebricks had instructions on just 5,672 new properties in the final three months of last year, compared with 10,964 during the same period in 2021.