Boss of Purplebricks steps down at troubled estate agent
The boss of online estate agent Purplebricks has quit his role because of “personal circumstances.”
Vic Darvey’s departure was announced on Thursday, with the CEO set to leave at the end of this month. Shares were up 4.2 per cent when trading closed on Thursday night.
Chief operating officer Helena Marston will step into the role from 4 April.
Darvey took on the role of CEO in May 2019 and navigated Purplebricks through a difficult period.
The estate agent has experienced its fair share of troubles over recent months, swinging to a loss of £12.9m in the six months to October 31 after losing market share to rivals.
Purplebricks was also beleaguered by a £3.6m bill from claims related to failings in how it communicated with tenants.
Its share price has taken a hit of over 84 per cent in the past year.
A statement from the firm said: “Helena has worked closely with Vic on the strategy and new business model as well as implementing a number of the performance improvement initiatives.”
In a message to shareholders, Darvey said he was “sorry to be leaving at this stage in the company’s transformation” but was confident of the firm’s future under new leadership.
Darvey’s successor Marston joined the firm in May 2020 as chief people officer, before her current role at the end of 2021.