x
By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies to enhance your experience.
Graham Awards

TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Countrywide now “beyond salvation” says former chief executive

Countrywide is now “beyond salvation” according to former chief executive Harry Hill.

The industry veteran, who also founded Rightmove, made the remark on Twitter after seeing a long and highly critical Sunday Times article about the troubled agency group, which on Wednesday reveals its trading performance for the first half of 2019.

The piece threw a particularly harsh light on the chairmanship of Peter Long.

Advertisement

Hill tweeted yesterday lunchtime: “The fact that P Long (Sun Times today) is still in place at Cwd plc simply proves how inept his board (and major investors) are. Sadly the business is beyond salvation.”

The article, which is online but behind a paywall, says that while former chief executive Alison Platt is seen as an architect of the company’s decline, increasing attention is being paid to the role of Long.

The piece quotes a former Countrywide insider saying that Long had “thrown [Platt] under the bus in public” by criticising her after her departure, even though he himself had gone along with the changes she led and which were seen by many to have been detrimental to the company in the long term. 

The article gives a chronicle of the company’s startling share price decline, its recent rights issues, the Back To Basics programme to reinvest in branches, and the ill-fated attempt of senior management to push through a bonus package that would have potentially given Long and others millions of pounds.

In recent months Countrywide has embarked on a branch closure programme that appears to have involved redundancies, although the company has refused to respond to several requests for information.

The Sunday Times story makes reference to external factors hurting much of the residential agency market, including stamp duty and the possibility that new Prime Minister Boris Johnson May reform the tax.

But if stamp duty is seen as a possible lifebelt for Countrywide by leading to a pick-up in the housing market, there is one unexpected obstacle that has to be overcome - a claim that the new Prime Minister has potential conflict of interests.

The Guardian over the weekend reported that Labour MP Ian Murray had written to a senior civil servant warning of the potential for conflicts of interest in Boris Johnson’s government if he implemented proposed policies that could potentially benefit major donors.

Murray does not allege any wrongdoing but has written to Sir Mark Sedwill saying: “It is particularly important that the public have confidence that decisions are being made in their interests and in the proper way”.

One possible conflict, Murray claims, concerns alleged donations of £60,000 during the recent Tory leadership campaign by property developers.

The letter highlights one of the principles of the ministerial code, which guides the behaviour of those in government, saying ministers “must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise”.

Poll: Would changing stamp duty for the most expensive properties help the whole housing market?

PLACE YOUR VOTE BELOW

  • Chris JaiBahadur

    Having dealings with Countrywide on numerous occasions it has become very clear to me that they have lost touch with the workforce. Their reputation with regards to customer service is dreadful.

    If us independents continue to exist in a tough competitive market they need to realise that the reason we are here and they are about to go down.
    Long live the hard working independents that are in touch with the peoples needs.

  • Simon Shinerock

    My Countrywide challenge, make it worth my while and I’ll turn the business round in three months, guaranteed or you pay nothing

  • icon

    As a two branch independent we've never had so many properties under offer or had the value of those sales so high in nearly 20 yrs :) We must be doing something right !!

  •  G romit

    Their customer service was appalling. I dumped them as a result.
    Not surprised that they are going bust!

icon

Please login to comment

MovePal MovePal MovePal