Purplebricks chief financial officer resigns

Purplebricks chief financial officer James Davies has resigned.

His place has been taken by Andrew Botha, who has joined from the online travel group Secret Escapes; Botha was previously chief financial officer at the Zoopla Property Group prior to its acquisition in 2018 by US private equity firm Silver Lake.

In a statement to shareholders at 7am this morning Paul Pindar, chairman of Purplebricks, said: “On behalf of the Board I would like to thank James for his hard work and dedication during his tenure at Purplebricks. We wish him the very best with his future endeavours. I am delighted to welcome Andy to the Board as chief financial officer. Andy has a remarkable track record in growing digital businesses, and I look forward to working with him and the executive management team to execute Purplebricks’s strategy.”

Davies said: “It has been an exceptional privilege to have been part of the growth and success of Purplebricks. I joined when it was a nascent challenger brand and today it ranks as the UK’s largest estate agency by volume. I am proud to have been on that journey. Notwithstanding the current COVID-19 circumstances, the company is in a strong financial position and ready for its exciting next stage of development and success.”

Davies' 25 years business experience also included other publicly quoted and privately-owned digital businesses, including Lastminute.com, Betfair and Notonthehighstreet.