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…