Countrywide CFO Jim Clarke retires, replaced by former G4S finance chief

Countrywide’s long-serving Chief Financial Officer Jim Clarke is to retire in July, making way for Himanshu Raja, who joins the company’s board on Monday and will take up position in August. Jim Clarke (pictured, left), who has in the past also taken the role of media commentator for Countrywide and recently led a share placement of nearly £40m to fund the company’s hybrid estate agency roll-out, has been with the company since 2007. His background before joining was in the hospitality and fitness sectors first at pub chain JD Wetherspoon and before that at David Lloyd Leisure. His retirement comes almost exactly two years to the day since two of his former colleagues, Bob Scarff and Nick Dunning, resigned from the company just nine months after Group Chief Executive Alison Platt took the helm. Clarke was also one of eight senior management figures who sold shares options worth millions in 2015 following the company’s return to the stock market in 2013, in his case worth £2.4 million. He is being replaced by Himanshu Raja who until last year was Group Chief Financial Officer of security firm G4S where he earned £1.7 million a year. He has been on sabbatical since…

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