Losses pile pressure on Purplebricks chair

AN ACTIVIST investor has stepped up its campaign to oust the chairman of Purplebricks, accusing him of overseeing a business “burning” £2m a month.

Lecram Holdings, a 5pc shareholder of the online estate agent, said the company’s half-year results “confirm our worst fears that nothing is improving”.

Profits dropped by 38pc to £16.2m in the six months to Oct 31, which led Lecram to accuse the company of “burning £2m of cash per month”.

The activist has been leading a campaign to oust Paul Pinder, Purplebricks’ chairman, and replace him with Rightmove founder and Countrywide chief executive Harry Hill.

Lecram said: “Shareholders can’t afford to wait any longer while this business runs out of money. They need to act and act quickly to change the chairman if there is any hope of salvaging value for all investors.”

Helena Marston, Purplebricks’ chief executive, said: “Our shareholders are happy with our strategy.

“We continue to move at pace to implement our plans to deliver a turnaround in performance, a return to positive cash flow and profitability and to build a scalable business model.”

Purplebricks said the number of instructions on new property listings had risen by only around 100 compared to the same period last year.

Lecram has called a vote on Dec 19 to decide Mr Pindar’s fate.

Adam Smith, the investor behind Lecram, has accused him of overseeing a “disastrous” destruction of value as a result of “a series of poor business decisions”.

However, the biggest shareholder, media group Axel Springer, has pledged its support for Mr Pindar.

Shares have fallen over 98pc since Purplebricks’ 2018 stock market debut and are today worth just £28m. Shares declined another 7pc yesterday.