Countrywide is “beyond salvation”, according to its founder Harry Hill.
Hill tweeted after a piece in yesterday’s Sunday Times which was run under the headline ‘Why the Long face at Countrywide’, and was critical of executive chairman Peter Long.
Hill tweeted: “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.”
Writing in the Sunday Times, Liam Kelly said that Long faced an uphill struggle “to save our biggest estate agency chain”.
He claimed that former chief executive Alison Platt had “good reason to feel sore about her treatment by Long”, who had thrown her “under the bus in public”, according to an un-named former insider.
The inside source said it had been easy to blame Platt for Countrywide’s ills, but that Long had been chairman, overseeing her decisions.
The article also quoted Numis analyst Chris Millington who said: “Regardless of who is at the helm, it feels like the rot has set in.”
Countrywide floated in March 2013, with a share price of 350p and a valuation of £750m. Today’s share price is around 5.3p, with a market valuation of under £90m.
The article also says that Long personally bought £300,000 worth of shares in Countrywide last summer, proving his own confidence in the business. Today, his investment is worth around £120,000.
The article does not quote Long himself, but does say that some “cautious optimism” is provided by Boris Johnson’s apparent plans to reform Stamp Duty.
Countrywide is due to deliver its half-year results on Wednesday.
It will be interesting to see if they say how many branches have shut and how the head count has changed. About 25% of the Countrywide branches around here have gone I reckon.
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Based on her performance, Alison Platt couldn’t drive a bus? Anyone could see that what she was trying to implement was b@llocks, if they just stood back/paused/assessed the journey they were hurtling along, but no, like Captain/s on The Titanic they charged full steam ahead, and f@ck the icebergs!
…….however, Mr Long & Co owned the “Bus Company” so they must share the blame for the CW mess.
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Having worked for CWD for over 20 years in both good ( Harry Hill ) and bad ( Long/Platt ) times it gives me no pleasure to see how this once great company has been trashed by people who were ( and some still are ) handsomely paid for the privilege of doing so. The reasons for the companies current state have already been documented and I am just glad to be out of it now before it’s final demise in whatever form. Back in the day it was no picnic to work for CWD you worked hard and yes played hard but at least you had the utmost respect for the likes of Harry, Anthony Ekins, Gerry Fitzjohn and yes Bob Scarff towards the end. Then the ‘ retail revolution’ arrived and we all know what happened after that train wreck. I’m just waiting to wake up and for someone totell me this has all been one big nightmare. Shame on you all.
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The truth will come out in the next 10 days. How fraudulent the senior management team are at CW
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Might be useful to have some kind of codacil to the agency agreement to allow for what happens in the case of CWD going into administration.
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