German investor builds 12.5pc Purplebricks stake

Online estate agent Purplebricks became a little more continental yesterday as media group Axel Springer, owner of newspaper Die Welt and publisher of Rolling Stone magazine in Germany, bought another £9.2m of shares.

Axel Springer first invested in Purplebricks in March, splashing out £150m for an 11.5pc stake.

Most of this was used to buy shares, giving Purplebricks around £100m to help it expand in the US and other new countries.

Shares in the no- commission estate agent were on the rise following Axel’s investment, ending the day up 0.6pc, or 2p, at 325.2p.

Andreas Wiele, president at Axel and non- executive director of Purplebricks, said in March: ‘For Axel Springer, this minority stake offers the opportunity to participate in an innovative, fast growing business model in new markets.’

it seems the firm is not content with the Seloger, immowelt and immoweb property portals it already operates, which list houses and apartments across France, Belgium and Germany. A spokesman for Axel added that the latest deal was ‘simply a good opportunity’ to increase its stake in Purplebricks, and did not rule out the idea that it may build an even larger stake. it is already the second largest shareholder, owning 12.5pc, behind Woodford investment Management with 29pc.

Founding brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce, along with Purplebricks’ non- executive director William Whitehorn, pocketed £25m between them in March from selling shares to Axel.

But the business itself has divided analysts, especially as it released results last week which showed losses had quadrupled for the year to £ 21.3m. Anthony Codling at Jefferies has questioned how many of the properties listed on the website actually sell, saying Purplebricks has been deliberately loose with its data and advising investors to steer clear of its ‘unproven’ model. Broker Peel Hunt, on the other hand, has given Purplebricks a ‘buy’ rating, saying its increased investment would drive further growth.

After a dramatic day for the Brexit talks, which saw the resignation of Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, investors seemed to be pricing in the chance that Brexit might not actually happen.

The pound bounced around against the dollar all day between $1.32 and $1.33. Jordan Hiscott of Ayondo Markets, said: ‘ i had expected there to be a notably weaker pound today. As i analyse the results, it’s becoming clearer that the market is pricing in either a soft Brexit or no Brexit at all.’

The FTSe also rose, ending the day up 0.92pc, or 70.29 points, at 7687.99, as investors digested the Government changes and had the weekend to weigh up the first moves made in the US- China trade spat. Mining heavyweight BHP Billiton climbed 2.6pc, or 44p, to 1708.2p amid reports that oil giant BP would acquire its onshore shale oil and gas assets for more than £7.5bn. BP itself ended the day up 1pc, or 5.5p, at 584.6p. in other mining news Cairn

Energy rose 2.4pc, or 5.6p, to 238p, as it went some way towards digging itself out of a dispute with the indian government.

A date in August has been set for the final arbitration hearings, in a case where Cairn is seeking almost £1bn in damages. it alleges that the indian income Tax Department has seized a number of its assets to enforce a tax claim, in breach of the investment treaty between the UK and india.

elsewhere on london’s junior market, investment manager

Miton Group shot up 12.4pc, or 7p, to 63.5p after announcing that investors had piled £616m more into its funds in the first half of the year.