Peter Long
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Latest property news
Revealed: why Countrywide sales and lettings went awry during Platt years
Countrywide has revealed that it will take three years to turn the business around following the departure of Alison Platt in January, and also detailed how and why she left. During the final months of last year Countrywide Executive Chairman Peter Long carried out a review of why its sales and lettings business had lost so much market share and profitability since 2015. He discovered that the strategy adopted by the company to treat sales and lettings as a single retail business failed to appreciate that they are really separate entities each with different characteristics and customer bases requiring separate expertise. Long also found that the ‘one size fits all’ approach the company had adopted led to a reduction in entrepreneurial culture and that branch managers lost the autonomy to recruit and promote colleagues or develop their businesses to fit local conditions. Reducing closure costs Countrywide has also published how much its ongoing cost reduction and closures programme cost last year. Its preliminary results, which come ahead of its full Annual Report later this month, show that it spent £4.4 million on redundancies and changing the leadership structure and £1.65 million on consultants to manage costs and get “strategic initiatives”…
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Latest property news
‘Come back to us’, Countrywide’s Peter Long asks departed talent as profits sink
Countrywide’s Executive Chairman Peter Long (pictured, above) has called for the senior figures who left the business during the Alison Platt years to return to the company as the company reveals its latest figures. Overall income reduced by 9% during 2017 and profits dropped by 23%, driven by a poorly-performing sales and lettings where profits fell by 45% from £48.4 million in 2016 to £26.4 million last year. This is a third year in a row the results from its core branch network have been poor. Countrywide’s mortgage business, which is highly dependent on its pipeline from the branches, also generated less profit last year, down from £22.7 million to £19.7 million. But one area of the business doing well is its B2B services operation. Profits increased by 13% to £35.6 million driven by surveying, and its commercial business outfit Lambert Smith Hampton. The 2017 results also reveal that although the company made an underlying profit of £19.5 million during 2017, nearly half that of 2016, it has reported a loss of £208.1 million after taking a £225.9 million hit for exception items. The company says it will not pay a dividend for 2017. In response to the figures, Countrywide…
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Latest property news
Countrywide break-up now a possibility, claims former chairman
Former Countrywide chairman Harry Hill has said that he believes an aggressive break-up of the company could now “be a possibility”. The comments came as he hit out at the Alison Platt years, suggesting that the company’s habit of replacing “seasoned professionals” with retail-background management was a mistake. Harry (pictured, left) is also critical of the current non-exec chairman of Countrywide for his lack of property experience. This is Peter Long, who gained much of his track record in the travel industry and who has stepped in to run the company until a replacement is found for Platt. “City reaction has been very muted and most people close to the company appear to think that recruiting a high calibre person will be difficult, and any recovery process will probably [also] be slow and difficult,” he told website Dealmakerz. Although the Countrywide share price has bombed since the New Year falling from £1.35 a share in January to a low of £0.78p earlier this month, its share price has begun a mild recovery. Crunch time? Following early morning trading today it now stands at £0.90p a share. But crunch time for Countrywide is likely to arrive on the 27th April when…
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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 CEO Alison Platt quits after sales and lettings ‘lose focus’
It’s official – after several days of speculation, Countrywide CEO Alison Platt has resigned from the company and will stand down from the board. Until a successor is found Executive Chairman Peter Long is to run the company. He is believed to have been instrumental in challenging the company’s strategic direction of recent, and a key figure in persuading Alison Platt to go. Clearly talking to the City, Peter says that although some parts of the company have been performing well, its core sales and lettings business has “lost focus” and that “a key priority will be to implement changes that will enable this area to start delivering once again,”. Profitable growth “Working together with this experienced executive team I feel confident we can return the business to profitable growth. “We have a strong and successful business in Financial Services, B2B and Commercial led by an experienced and committed management team.” There is speculation that Paul Creffield (pictured, left), who has been Managing Director of its Commercial Development team and joined the company in 2006, may be in the running to be the next CEO. During his time at Countrywide he has led most of its divisions and before joining…
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Agencies & People
Countrywide appoints new Chairman
Countrywide, has appointed Peter Long, the former Chief Executive of travel agent giant TUI, as its Non-Executive Chairman. Mr Long (left), who is also Chairman of Royal Mail, will start his new role following Countrywide’s annual general meeting in April, replacing the retiring Grenville Turner. He will work alongside Alison Platt, Chief Executive at Countrywide. He commented, “I am delighted to be joining the Countrywide plc board as Chairman and am looking forward to working with Alison and her team. The group has a clear focus on its customers as it executes its strategy and generates long-term sustainable shareholder value.” Alison Platt, said, “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Grenville (right) for his dedication and significant commitment to the development of Countrywide during his tenure. As Chairman and previously as CEO, Grenville has been unwavering in his stewardship of Countrywide. Personally, he has been unstinting in his support and guidance for me and his counsel has been invaluable. “I am pleased that Peter has accepted the role of Chairman and would like to welcome him to Countrywide. I and the entire Board look forward to working with him as Countrywide pursue its strategic objectives.” Related news…
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