Agencies & People
News covering the businesses, activities, people and personalities in estate agency and letting agency and wider residential property industry.
-
Countrywide share price freefall continues valuing firm at just £200m
The Countrywide share price freefall continued yesterday plunging by 10.5% to 84.9p per share, an all-time low for the company (see graph, right). Its share price had rallied slightly in recent days following the departure of CEO Alison Platt, but investor confidence in the future of the company and the overall property market appears to be waning again despite Chairman Peter Long recently stating that he would stay on until the company’s problems had been sorted out, and the promotion of Paul Creffield to Group Operations Director. The sudden drop in shares is likely to be a result of major shareholders offloading their exposure to the company’s shares and recent figures from the Land Registry revealing a 21% drop in year-on-year property transactions during 2017. The most significant shareholders in Countrywide are Oaktree Capital with 33%, Brandes Investment Partners with 19%, Apollo Investors (10%), Harris Associates (7.6%). Investec Asset Management ( 6.2%) and Jupiter Asset Management (5.8%). Following the departure of Alison Platt, Peter Long’s salary was doubled from £180,000 to £360,000 as ‘golden handcuffs’ to incentivise the long-serving industry stalwart to remain with the company, while Platt’s severance deal is yet to be announced, although it likely to run…
Read More » -
Andrews sells it surveying business to SimplyBiz after shifting “core focus”
Britain’s most ethical estate agency group, Andrews, has sold its chartered surveying business to The SimplyBiz Group for an undisclosed sum. Andrews says that after much research, it believes SimplyBiz is a suitable buyer because it shares the “same moral fibre”. Landmark, which turns over approximately £5 million a year according to its latest full-year accounts and achieved a profit margin of 13.5% or £675,700, no longer fits into Andrews’ “core focus”, says Group Chief Executive David Westgate. Landmark is based in Bristol and will transfer over to SimplyBiz without the loss of any of the 55 people the company employs, Andrews has confirmed. The SimplyBiz Group is a rapidly-expanding umbrella company for a range of services and financial products including mortgages and pensions to financial advisers It was launched in 2002 and now claims some 3,500 clients. Within its latest accounts published in July last year Landmark reported that its profits were down 3.5% and turnover by 2%, largely due to the EU Referendum in June 2016, which “considerably affected volumes”. Landmark was set up ten years ago by Andrews and, after at least six years of losses as it gained traction, began making profits four years ago. “Landmark…
Read More » -
Is Britain building again? New home registrations rose by 6% during 2017, says NHBC
The promise by the Conservatives to get the UK building again is being delivered if the most recent new home registrations from NHBC are any thing to go by. It says 160,000 homes were registered to be built last year in the UK, an increase of 6% on 2016 during which 152,017 properties were registered. NHBC’s new homes registration figures aren’t always an comprehensive view of the market, partially because its members only represent 80% of all builders, and also because registrations don’t always turn into bricks and mortar. For example, only 141,685 new homes were built last year, nearly 19% fewer than the number registered. Nevertheless, NHBC says the number of homes built by the private sector grew year-on-year during 2017 by 3% to 118,825. Also, the number of affordable homes increased 14% to 31,781, the highest ever figure. The surge in house building took place in nine out of the UK’s 12 regions and includes London, which has seen a decline in the number of new homes registered every year since 2014, helping reassure agents there that it’s property market may be reviving. Other areas of the country which saw significant increases include the East Midlands, Wales and…
Read More » -
Exclusive: Ewemove reveals speed of its transformation into a high street operator
Countrywide take note – former online-only brand Ewemove has revealed the speed at which it is transforming into a high street-but-hybrid branch network. The company, which is now part of The Property Franchise Group (TPFG), has told The Negotiator that of its 120 franchisees, six are now branded high street branches while 24 are either operating out of existing franchisee’s businesses or are being operated within ‘serviced office’. This was revealed at its recent annual jamboree, at which 150 agents from Aberdeen to Barnstaple gathered at The Belfry conference centre on the outskirts of Birmingham to celebrate the hybrid agent’s fifth birthday. News of its genesis from the internet onto the high street was revealed by Managing Director Nick Neill. He is a former Ewemove franchisee who, after the company was bought by TPFG and its founders moved on, was appointed to the top job. The gathering also heard presentations from Peter Knight from The Property Academy, James Sinclair from Entrepreneurs Network, and Alex Rose from Hometrack. Later in the day Ewemove also held an internal awards ceremony during which Chris Walthall won Franchisee of the Year. He operates Ewemove’s Leek and Hanley franchise in Yorkshire. “Chris launched [his] business…
Read More » -
New online auction service for estate agents
A new A new online property service is launching that enables estate agents to add an auction element to both sales and lettings.
Read More » -
Foxtons reports profits down by 43% last year as London market pain continues
Foxtons’ results for 2017 are out and the company says its group turnover, profits and both sales and lettings revenues were down year-on-year but that it has some “strategic initiatives” up its sleeves due to be revealed next week. The company’s profits took the hardest knock. They dropped from £24.6 million in 2016 to £15 million last year, or 43%, as sales within London’s multi-million pound streets remain quiet despite hopes that the exchange rate would persaude more foreigners to buy into the capital’s bricks and mortar. Revenues from its sales operation dropped by nearly 24% year-on-year from £55 million to £42 million, although the crash in volumes within the capital appears to have eased during the final three months of year. But the company says it expects the pain in London to continue. Unlike last week’s Countrywide results which saw disappointing figures for both sides of its core business, Foxtons’ lettings operation continues to deliver at least only moderate revenue reductions – down last year by just 3%. Struggling performance But, despite the weak business performance, CEO Nic Budden appears to be dodging City, investor and board calls for fresh leadership. The company blames its struggling performance on the…
Read More » -
TV reality star jumps from Love Island to lettings
A Love Island contestant who was the fist to be ejected from the Mallorcan villa where the TV reality show took place has begun a career as a lettings agent. Harley Judge, who until briefly joining the programme as a contestant was a grounds worker and self-confessed gym addict, exited the villa after being rejected by two women despite his best efforts to romance them, including a rumoured former girlfriend of Prince Harry, Camilla Thurlow. For those not familiar with the programme, in each series 12 male and female constants must compete to form relationships with each other, as well as facing public votes. After leaving the show, Harley said he would remain ‘humble’ despite the fame that it briefly brought him, and appears to have kept to his word. The 22-year-old has joined an agency in his home town of Norwich as a lettings negotiator and put a picture of himself (above) on Instagram says he had “a new challenge for the new year” and that he had “swapped the hi viz for suit and tie”, referring to his previous job before Love Island. His brief but emotional spell on the programme means he is likely to be one…
Read More » -
Countrywide CEO Alison Platt quits after sales and lettings ‘lose focus’
It’s official – after several days of speculation, Countrywide CEO Alison Platt has resigned from the company and will stand down from the board. Until a successor is found Executive Chairman Peter Long is to run the company. He is believed to have been instrumental in challenging the company’s strategic direction of recent, and a key figure in persuading Alison Platt to go. Clearly talking to the City, Peter says that although some parts of the company have been performing well, its core sales and lettings business has “lost focus” and that “a key priority will be to implement changes that will enable this area to start delivering once again,”. Profitable growth “Working together with this experienced executive team I feel confident we can return the business to profitable growth. “We have a strong and successful business in Financial Services, B2B and Commercial led by an experienced and committed management team.” There is speculation that Paul Creffield (pictured, left), who has been Managing Director of its Commercial Development team and joined the company in 2006, may be in the running to be the next CEO. During his time at Countrywide he has led most of its divisions and before joining…
Read More » -
Purplebricks launches in New York, expands Los Angeles operation
Purplebricks has announced to the London Stock Exchange that it is to launch in New York in Spring this year, the second area it has targeted since establishing its US arm last year. CEO Michael Bruce has also revealed that the company has this month also expanded its existing Los Angeles operation, moving into neighbouring San Diego, Sacramento and Fresno. The company says it is targeting the New York area because it has some of the fattest ‘standard’ commission rates in the US at 7%, a high average sale value of $561,000 and a very busy market – transaction rates are double that anywhere else in the States. Michael Bruce (pictured, left), who recently stepped down as UK CEO to grapple with the company’s global expansion, says: “It is a sign of confidence in the potential of the US business that we are today announcing our expansion to cover both the East and West coast, with our planned entry into the New York market. “With higher than average rates of commission and transaction volumes, New York was the natural first move on the East Coast for Purplebricks. Referring to US CEO Eric Eckardt’s (pictured, right) previous form in the New York property market including…
Read More » -
Is Alison Platt about to exit from Countrywide as share price dips under £1?
Rumours that the position of Countrywide CEO Alison Platt may be in jeopardy were circulating in the City after its share price hit a new all-time low of £0.98p during mid-day trading today. Shares in the company have been in freefall since a trading statement on Thursday warned that profits were likely to be lower than expected following a “disappointing” last quarter. That day its share price dropped 20% but has since fallen overall by a quarter as investor confidence in Countrywide crumbled after the trading update predicted its 2017 profits would be £65m, down by 22% from £83.5m during 2016, Last night Sky News reported that board members were in private discussions about the future of Alison Platt, who could be pushed out within days, and even if she does hang on, may struggle to survive until the full year results are published on the 8th March. These are likely to make grim reading, as the trading update suggested last week, and may push the company’s share price down past £1. If this were to happen then it would mark an extraordinary collapse. Countrywide’s share price has fallen from nearly £6 a share in September 2015 to £1.02 today…
Read More »