At least three Countrywide brands thought to be closi...

It appears that at least three Countrywide brands are undergoing branch closures as the company’s cuts continue to bite.

Estate Agent Today yesterday evening put to Countrywide that it had heard of closures of offices amongst the Stratton Creber, King & Chasemore and Taylors brands serving the south and west of England.

Countrywide did not deny the speculation and instead a spokeswoman issued this statement:

“Our brands, branch network and the colleagues who work within them remain at the heart of our customer offering and we can confirm that we are not closing all of our King & Chasemore branches.

“As a responsible business we must constantly assess our branch footprint, the customers they serve and their profitability. Based on that insight, there will be times when we make the difficult decision to close a branch.

“Wherever possible, we will seek to redeploy the teams and deliver for our customers from an alternative Countrywide branch.”

Countrywide’s stock market troubles continued yesterday with the company closing down more than eight per cent at just 4.51p.

A year ago it was trading at around 100p, and that was some months into the senior management team’s Back To Basics programme putting renewed emphasis on branch sales and lettings teams.

However, in recent months there have been branch closures and redundancies; in addition, some branches have been put into a sale-and-leaseback programme.

The company, which recently reported a pre-tax loss for 2018 of £251m, has chosen not to go down the route taken by LSL Property Services, Foxtons and other companies in announcing some details of its branch closure programme to the public.

As a result, rumours continue to circulate about possible additional branch closures.