Purplebricks shares rose on Thursday after the company revealed a strong instructions performance for the year ended 30 April 2021.
The tech-led estate agency said the UK housing market continued its recovery in 2021, which was aided by the Government's stamp duty holiday extension and led to its positive performance.
Total instructions increase by 12% to 60,238 compared to 53,680 in 2020, with instructions in the second half performing ahead of market expectations, the company said.
Due to the positive second-half performance, Purplebricks said it has decided to pay back the £1 million in furlough money received under the Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Purplebricks expects to report full-year Adjusted EBITDA in line with current market expectations.
The AIM-listed company said its balance sheet remains strong with cash at 30 April 2021 of £74.0m compared to £75.8m on 31 October 2020.
Purplebricks CEO, Vic Darvey, said: “We have delivered a strong performance across the company with instructions up 12%. I am pleased to see the housing market continue its recovery as lockdown measures ease and buyers are aided by the stamp duty holiday.
“We have made good progress on executing our strategic initiatives, including advancing the review of our pricing strategy in spite of the pandemic. We look forward to providing more detail on these new initiatives at our Full Year results in July.
“I am proud of the Board's decision to pay back all furlough monies received and of the robust performance over the last year. As lockdown restrictions continue to ease across the UK, we remain confident of continuing our strong trading performance into the new financial year.”
Purplebricks share price jumped to highs of 100p at the open. However, they are now down 0.77% at 95.73p.
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