Purplebricks shareholder Lecram calls for chairman's ouster

Purplebricks

02/08/2022 15:38

By Aby Jose Koilparambil
    Aug 2 (Reuters) - A top-ten shareholder in Purplebricks
Group Plc  PURP.L  on Tuesday called for the removal of Chairman
Paul Pindar, hours after Britain's biggest online-only estate
agency reported its first annual loss since the pre-pandemic
2019 fiscal year.
    Pindar has held the non-executive chairman's position since
December 2015, when Purplebricks got listed on the London Stock
Exchange.
    Lecram Holdings' move comes after a shake-up at Purplebricks
in the first half of the year with Steve Long taking over as
chief financial officer and Helena Marston as chief executive
officer.
    "While we are encouraged by the plans of the new CEO and CFO
to turn things around and stem the cash bleed, we wonder why it
has taken so long to act," Glenn Cooper, chairman of Harrier
Capital, advisor to Lecram, said in an emailed statement.
    "(We) are concerned at the lack of market experience at
board level, and the fact that the chairman who presided over
this terrible performance is still at the helm on the company."
    Lecram is the sixth-largest shareholder in Purplebricks with
a 4.2% stake.
    Pindar, who was an early investor in Purplebricks, is the
former CEO of Capita Plc  CPI.L , serving the outsourcing firm
as its boss for 15 years until 2014. 
    Purplebricks did not immediately respond to Reuters request
for a response to Lecram's statement.
    Shares in the AIM-listed company have slumped more than 87%
since its market debut as the firm's ambitious international
expansion failed to take off and it struggled recently with
implementing a new operating model.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2ZE1GQ
    London-based Lecram said it would be meeting the company
later this month and would reiterate its call for the change of
chairman.

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Purplebricks slumps to annual loss, shares tumble   
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 (Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by
Shailesh Kuber)
 ((abyjose.koilparambil@thomsonreuters.com; +919986528692;))