Countrywide PLC announces poor performance in sales and lettings

March 8, 2018

Countrywide PLC today announces preliminary statement of annual results for the year ended 31 December 2017. The statement headlines: 2017 A disappointing year – 2018  Management Change and recovery plan underway.

Group reported:  Income for the full year was £671.9 million (2016: £737.0 million) while adjusted EBITDA was 23% lower at £64.7 million (2016: £83.5 million) driven by poor performance in Sales and Lettings. more…..

Commenting, Peter Long, Executive chairman said:

“The under-performance of our business over the last three years has resulted in us making significant management change in the Group. 

“Industry expertise in all areas of our business is key. Within Sales and Lettings, the previous strategy resulted in us losing a lot of that expertise.  In the Group, we are fortunate in that we have an industry veteran, Paul Creffield, who has been promoted to the role of Group operations director.  His deep understanding of the market and operations means that we have quickly been able to identify what we need to do to begin addressing our under-performance. I am greatly encouraged by the number of high calibre industry business leaders that we already have within our Sales and Lettings business and a number of similarly experienced and high calibre industry people who previously left us and want to rejoin now that Paul is in this role.

“Fundamentally, Countrywide has a unique market position given its breadth within the property services industry. We have established and trusted brands that resonate with customers, together with dedicated and committed colleagues who are the cornerstone of our business. The strong areas in the Group, Financial Services and B2B, have unfortunately been overshadowed by the poor performance in our core Sales and Lettings business units. We believe these business units are fixable, know what we have to do to restore them and the steps to take that should result in a return to profitable growth.  This will take time but ultimately there will be much upside for our Group and our shareholders, whose patience has been sorely tested recently.”

Read the Countrywide plc Preliminary statement of annual results for the year ended 31 December 2017 in full click here.

 

Allen Walkey

Highly experienced businessman with a successful career in property sales and investment both in the UK and abroad. Now a freelance writer and blogger for the property and Investment Industry, keeping readers up-to-date with changes and events in a rapidly changing world.

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