Sky News is this evening reporting that Alison Platt, the chief executive of the troubled Countrywide agency, may soon be leaving the company.
“Sky News has learnt that board members have been discussing the future of Alison Platt in the aftermath of news last week that the owner of Hamptons and Bridgefords would make only £65m in the financial year just ended” says the news service.
“City sources suggested on Monday night that an announcement about her departure was possible in the next few days, although they cautioned that it had not yet been finalised” the report continues.
On Thursday last week - the same day as the latest poor set of figures from the agency group - Platt sent a confidential note to staff saying: “The end result therefore is not what we had planned and rightly I expect the reaction from our shareholders and the wider market to be challenging.”
In its trading statement late last week the firm said its total income in the sales and lettings business for the full 2017 year was expected to be circa £360m, down 14 per cent on 2016, “reflecting a disappointing fourth quarter performance.”
Total Countrywide group income for the full year - including non-agency activity such as financial services - was expected to be circa £672m (2016: £737m), with quarter four income of circa £164m (2016: £179m).
Income in the UK business was expected to be circa £205m, down 17 per cent year on year, and in London was expected to be circa £155m, down 10 per cent.
You can see this evening's Sky News story here.
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Two years too late!
Watch what happens next...whilst Countrywide is on it's knees a buyout approach from Purplebricks or even Rightmove could be on the cards!? The Landscape of Estate Agency is changing faster than ever.
I might be out of touch these days but doesn't Rightmove make massive profits from all us suckers-I mean-us poor souls? Not sure PB could make a go of it running a traditional model-too much like hard work.
Good. Retracted a 535k offer on my old business at the 11th hour after we'd already laid off staff and cut everything back at their request. Essentially killed the business, so glad to see hers is dying too.
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