Agencies & People
News covering the businesses, activities, people and personalities in estate agency and letting agency and wider residential property industry.
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Countrywide raises £37.7 million from “over-subscribed” share placement
Countrywide has raised a further £37.8 million pounds from the City to fund the roll out of its fast-expanding digital hybrid platform and network. Some 21.5 million shares were placed for sale on London’s stock exchange today with the help of Barclays and Jefferies International, and advised by legal firm Slaughter and May. On Thursday the ‘placement’ was revealed at a share price of £1.75 each and Countrywide says it was over-subscribed as many of the company’s big institutional backers swung behind CEO Alison Platt’s plan to extricate the company from its current woes. The shares represented just under 10% of the company’s total share capital. The money that Countrywide is hoping raise from the share placement is, CEO Alison Platt told investors last week, to enable her to invest in the company and particularly its digital roll out without having to borrow any more money. Share price slide But despite Alison’s upbeat presentation, the placing did not stop the current slide in Countywide’s share price, which is currently trading at approximately 5p less than the placing price. Overall, Countrywide shares have not been doing well and are currently trading for 52% less than they were listed a year ago.…
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The Experts in Property
The Experts in Property network of independent estate agencies across the South West has strengthened its presence in London with Hammersmith and Fulham’s leading independent estate agency, Lawsons & Daughters joining the group as an affiliate member.
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Is Countrywide now one of the biggest hybrid agents?
While there’s enormous interest in ‘online-only’ and hybrid agents such as Hatched and Purplebricks, a lesser-known online operation has been rolling out across swathes of the UK. Countrywide revealed this morning how its digital ‘hybrid’ roll-out has been progressing over the past year, and it’s significant. So far this has included a four-phase launch that now covers 25% of its business, and 200 branches. Four phases After trialling it with three brands in June last year – Austin & Wyatt in the SW, Frank Innes in the East Midlands and Spencers in Leicestershire – it then introduced the offering to a further three agencies in November. These were Carsons in Hampshire, Miller Countrywide in Cornwall and Devon and Fulfords in Somerset. In January this year it also added its hybrid offering to Entwistle Green in Liverpool and Lancashire and says that it has shown “the most positive results to date”. A launch then followed last month at Bridgfords, the largest agent to do so thus far. Benefits Benefits of Countrywide’s hybrid model, which charges a £695 to £995 fee (see ad above) for a Purplebricks-style service during which vendors have to conduct both their own viewings and sale price negotiations, have included increased traffic to agent’s websites.…
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2016 Countrywide results reveal £15.8m spent on branch closures, and profits down by 59%
Countrywide PLC has this morning revealed its results for 2016 following what Chairman Peter Long describes as a “difficult year” for the company. Highlights of the Countrywide results include revenue that edged up half a percent to £737m, profit before taxation that nosedived by 59% to £19.5%, a £32.8 million windfall from the sale of ZPG shares and a strong performance by its mortgages, surveying and lettings businesses. Chief Executive Alison Platt (pictured, below) reveals that the company focussed on cost cutting last year to the tune of £10m, although its restructuring costs included spending £8.1 million on redundancies and £15.8 million on branch closures. This has included a ‘management delayering’ that has saved £5 million and headcount ‘rationalisation’ in marketing, finance and new homes that has saved £1.5 million. Countrywide also says it saved £3.5 million by consolidating branches in 180 locations and involving 214 branches. Alison Platt blames the poor performances of Countrywide’s sales businesses on uncertainty caused by the EU Referendum result as well as the recent Stamp Duty changes, which she says have both led to falling volumes of properties for sale. The number of homes sold via its brands dropped by 1% outside London to…
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Agent agrees to withdraw ‘knocking copy’ ad after ASA investigation
An agent in Andover, Hampshire has been investigated by the advertising watchdog the ASA for making competitor comparisons within a flyer. Bournes Town & Country, which has two branches in and around Andover, circulated a flyer featuring a picture of a house previously marketed by a competitor, Austin Hawk, that Bournes Town & Country had subsequently sold. The text on the flyer compared the listings of the two firms, one saying “3 viewings no sale time wasted” while the other “12 viewings sold STC success”. Additional text then said “originally advertised with your agent then swapped to Bournes”, suggesting the flyers were circulated to homes marketed by Austin Hawk at the time. The complainant about the flyer said there were a variety of factors which could impact on whether a house sold or not and challenged wither the comparison in the ad was misleading. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) contacted Bournes Town & Country about the complaint and it “agreed not to make competitor comparisons which included details that customers cannot independently verify in the future”, the watchdog said. It also said it had “received assurance from the advertiser they would make their future advertising compliant with the advertising rules”. The…
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Foxtons’ results: Profits drop by 54% in 2016
Foxtons’ results for 2016 reveal a tough year for the company with revenue, profits, margin and earning per share all dropping dramatically. The company blames the EU referendum, Stamp Duty changes and a difficult Central London property market for its dismal performance, which saw revenue down by 11.4% and profits before tax down by 54%. Its revenues from sales were down by 23% to £55.5m but generation rent and London’s high house prices helped keep its lettings revenue relatively buoyant at £68.3m, down just 1%. The only other bright spots on the horizon for the company are its balance sheet and mortgage business. The company has no debt and £9.5m in the bank, and saw revenues from its mortgage business Alexander Hall Associates, rise by 8% to £8.9 million. CEO Nic Budden says that he expects the property market in London to remain “challenging” throughout 2017 and that sales volumes will be lower this year than 2016 if current market conditions continue. Nic is also hanging his hopes on Foxtons being a technology-first company when the London market finally revives, revealing the company is to create a portal for its landlord customers similar to its MyFoxtons platform launched last year,…
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Belvoir continues selling its HQ-owned branches to franchisees
Franchise agency network Belvoir has sold the latest of its HQ-owned offices following the announcement last year that it would try and dispose of “most of [our] remaining corporate-owned offices to enable the group to further focus its resources on its franchise business”. The first to be sold this year is its Burton upon Trent office in East Staffordshire, which has been snapped up by a neighbouring franchisee with existing branches in Hinkley and Tamworth. Previous ‘corporate’ offices sold last year include Basingstoke (sales) in Berkshire, Lichfield in the West Midlands, London Central and Tadley in Hampshire. The corporate offices already sold or targeted for sale are the remaining branches of the business originally set up by founders Mike and Stephanie Goddard during the 1990s as a traditional letting agency, before the company began offering franchises. The company now has over 301 branches including 86 from the recent acquisition of competing franchisee agent Northwood. The rest of the network’s outlets including 170 via Belvoir franchisees and 14 from Goodchilds and 31 from Newton Fallowell. Belvoir says it plans to sell three of the remaining Belvoir corporate offices but retain two – both in its home town of Grantham – for system development…
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LSL sells ZPG shares for £32.9 million to prop up its 2016 results
The UK’s second largest corporate LSL Property Services sold all its ZPG shares last year for £32.9 million to “protect its balance sheet” during a difficult 2016 that saw profits and margins tumble. LSL is the parent company of 12 estate agency brands including YourMove, Reeds Rains and Marsh Parsons. It also employs 4,990 people in the UK across its three key areas, surveying, estate agency and mortgages. The group’s profits during 2016 dropped by 19% on revenue that edged up from £300.6 to £307.8 million. But its balance sheet looks better following the sales of its entire stock of Zoopla shares. Operating margin also decreased, from 14.3% to 11.3%. “After a strong overall first half performance in the Estate Agency Division we reacted decisively to the changing market conditions in the second half of the year with selective cost reduction measures,” says Chairman Simon Embley (pictured, left). “[This included] branch closures and [we] protected the balance sheet by disposing of the Group’s shareholding in Zoopla and pausing acquisition activity.” LSL strategy revealed LSL also revealed its plans for next year and beyond within the preliminary announcement including several of its key strategies. Ian Crabb, the Group Chief Executive (pictured, right)…
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Heaton & Partners merges with Merlin Dormer
Heaton & Partners, a London and country property search agency, established four years ago, has announced its merger with prime central London expert, Merlin Dormer Property.
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Agent fined the most in Burnham-on-Sea fee fixing scandal speaks out
One of the four agents which last week agreed to pay fines totalling £370,000 following a Competition and Markets Authority investigation into price fixing in the Somerset seaside town of Burnham-on-Sea has given its reaction to the case for the first time following the announcement. The agents – which included Greenslade Taylor Hunt (GTH), Abbot and Frost, Gary Berryman and West Coast Property Services – admitted breaking competition law by colluding to set a minimum 1.5% commission fee for sales in and around the town. Charles Clarke (pictured, left), Chairman of GTH, has said that the fine covered activities during 2014 and 2015 by the company’s local business. He said that GTH cooperated with the CMA fully and that as soon as concerns were raised by the watchdog, an investigation of all offices and departments within the firm was undertaken. GTH is to pay the largest proportion of the total fine, at £186,054. “We are entirely satisfied that this issue resulted from the wholly misguided and inappropriate actions of one GTH Partner, acting entirely alone, at one branch of our group and that no other office or department was involved in any way whatsoever,” he told Burnham-on-Sea.com. “The partner’s actions…
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