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Estate agency Purplebricks swung to a first-half loss after its revenue fell and it incurred higher expenses, including marketing costs.
Net losses for the six months through October amounted to £20.2 million, compared to a year-on-year profit of £3.9 million, and included tax expenses of £7.3 million.
Pre-tax losses amounted to £12.9 million, swinging from a year-on-year profit of £4.3 million.
Revenue fell 7% to £41.3 million, while gross profit margin contracted to 63.4%, from 67.0%.
Purplebricks said it had 'driven considerable transformation' during the first half and significantly invested in its business model.
Moves included introducing new money-back guarantee pricing, a simplified customer proposition, and a redesigned employed operating model in the field.
The company added that its second-half performance had been impacted by lower market instructions, which fell 38% compared to the first half.
'Since the period-end, we have continued to see a significant imbalance between the strong demand for housing and a very limited supply of stock, which has driven house prices higher,' Purplebricks said.
'Although housing supply has increased in January, we expect these market dynamics to continue through the second half of our financial year, which will continue to impact instructions and gross margins.'
'In addition, the comparable performance will also be impacted by the expected increase in costs associated with our transition to a fully employed model.'
'Set against these market challenges, we are greatly encouraged by the positive signs we are seeing in our operational performance since we implemented our new operating model.'
'We are confident that the steps we have taken to improve the business will drive a return to growth and market share gains in 2023.'