Countrywide shares
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Latest property news
Countrywide shares drop by a third in a single day following profit warning
Countrywide shares lost a third of their value in a single day following a largely gloomy update from the company.
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Latest property news
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…
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Latest property news
Countrywide shares drop 20% in a day to all-time low
Countrywide shares dropped by 20.3% yesterday following its trading update revealing what it described as “disappointing” results and warning of lower-than-expected profits. The share price tumbled by 16% from £1.38p a share to £1.14p a share in the first hours of trading but rather than rallying, continued its downward trend to finish at £1.10p, its lowest price ever. Countrywide’s shares have dipped to near this in recent months – £1.07p in September and £1.08p in November both last year. The current price is an 83% reduction from its peak of £6.94p in November 2014. City concern over the company’s performance and its inevitable drift downwards have been driven largely by a deteriorating sales market, its cumbersome size following years of energetic market share grabbing, an expensive branch and staff reduction programme, and the encroaching threat of hybrid agents such as Purplebricks within it score middle market. Despite attempts to fight back with its own hybrid offering, yesterday’s results suggested Countrywide has a while to go before its on an even keel. Its results revealed a “disappointing fourth quarter performance” in sales and letting, where income dropped by 14% last year. Countrywide shares But it wasn’t all grim news yesterday. Countrywide’s…
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Latest property news
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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