With the business potentially at an important milestone, we thought we'd take a closer look at Purplebricks Group plc's (LON:PURP) future prospects. Purplebricks Group plc engages in the real estate agency business in the United Kingdom. With the latest financial year loss of UK£12m and a trailing-twelve-month loss of UK£5.0m, the UK£253m market-cap company alleviated its loss by moving closer towards its target of breakeven. The most pressing concern for investors is Purplebricks Group's path to profitability – when will it breakeven? In this article, we will touch on the expectations for the company's growth and when analysts expect it to become profitable.

See our latest analysis for Purplebricks Group

Purplebricks Group is bordering on breakeven, according to the 3 British Real Estate analysts. They anticipate the company to incur a final loss in 2021, before generating positive profits of UK£1.0m in 2022. The company is therefore projected to breakeven just over a year from today. How fast will the company have to grow each year in order to reach the breakeven point by 2022? Working backwards from analyst estimates, it turns out that they expect the company to grow 86% year-on-year, on average, which signals high confidence from analysts. Should the business grow at a slower rate, it will become profitable at a later date than expected.

We're not going to go through company-specific developments for Purplebricks Group given that this is a high-level summary, however, take into account that generally a high growth rate is not out of the ordinary, particularly when a company is in a period of investment.

Before we wrap up, there’s one aspect worth mentioning. Purplebricks Group currently has no debt on its balance sheet, which is quite unusual for a cash-burning growth company, which usually has a high level of debt relative to its equity. The company currently operates purely off its shareholder funding and has no debt obligation, reducing concerns around repayments and making it a less risky investment.

Next Steps:

There are key fundamentals of Purplebricks Group which are not covered in this article, but we must stress again that this is merely a basic overview. For a more comprehensive look at Purplebricks Group, take a look at Purplebricks Group's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also put together a list of key aspects you should further research:

1. Valuation: What is Purplebricks Group worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Purplebricks Group is currently mispriced by the market.

2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Purplebricks Group’s board and the CEO’s background.

3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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