Alison Platt
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Latest property news
Who are the best paid CEOs in property?
In April this year it was revealed that Foxtons CEO Nic Budden had been awarded a 19% pay rise which is likely to boost his salary to £2.3 million for 2016, up from his 2015 salary of £856,000, making him one of the best paid CEOs in property. He is one of an elite group of business leaders in our industry who earn six and seven figure total pay packages and lead companies with thousands of employees from multi-agency group to the big portals. But except for Alison Platt of Countrywide and Alex Chesterman of Zoopla, this high-flying club of top executives is a largely anonymous and invisible bunch who rarely venture out into the public eye, and whose performances are rarely examined or discussed despite being responsible for the livelihoods of many thousands of property professionals. So how do they measure up – are their public limited companies doing well? 1. CEO: Mark Allan (until June), £2.4m Company: Unite Sector: Student accommodation Revenue: +10% Share price: -12% Profit: +260% 2. CEO: Nick McKittrick, £2.3m Company: Rightmove Sector: Portals Revenue: +25% Share price: +83% Underlying profit: +16% 3. CEO: Jeremy Helsby, £2.29m Company: Savills Sector: Sales and lettings…
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Latest property news
What will Countrywide announce next Thursday?
Countrywide has said this morning that it is going to make its third quarter management statement next Thursday, and there is now nervous debate among employees and shareholders about what Alison Platt and her executive team are going to reveal. The company has been through turbulent times over the past 18 months as its share price has dropped by two thirds from over £6 a share to £2 today. Several senior people have exited the business recently including, most notably, the managing director of its estate agency business Bob Scarff. Platt (pictured) has a difficult job ahead of her. The number of homes for sale in the UK have been dropping and many of Countrywide’s competitors have been suffering this year including Foxtons, which said it had seen sales in London reduce by a third in recent months. There are two rumoured directions in which Platt is planning to travel. The first is to reduce costs, which will reassure investors who traditionally bay for cuts in difficult times. Several major Countrywide brands have indicated they expect to drastically reduce their print advertising spend next year. But Platt is also said to be considering how to streamline the business which now numbers some…
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Associations & Bodies
Countrywide teams up with NAEA to increase membership levels
Countrywide plc and the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) have announced a new landmark partnership which will see Countrywide’s customer facing estate agents invited to become members of the NAEA. The agreement makes Countrywide the first national estate agency network to officially adopt such an undertaking, offering employees the opportunity of high level training alongside their nationally recognised qualifications. The move is sure to gain the approval of many leading qualified trainers, including Tony Lynch (left), a coach at Keep Thinking Big. He points out that estate agents are no different to any other profession when it comes to the need to update skills and techniques. He commented: “We all need ongoing training in order to become better tomorrow than we are today.” He highlights various skills, such as listening, connecting and becoming a ‘master’ at questions that unlock the doors of opportunity as all being learnable skills, as being “imperative for the successful estate agent”. Lynch also pointed to “attitude” as a key component when it comes to training and learning. “If a team understands the importance of training and have a hunger for becoming the best they can be, then the ingredients are set for a huge…
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