Countrywide has declared that it will re-set itself the disastrous ‘retail’ strategy which was the hallmark of Alison Platt’s time in office.

Its annual report is introduced by executive chairman Peter Long, who has effectively taken over her role in the interim.

Long savages the ‘retail’ approach saying: “The restructuring of the Group in 2015 assumed that sales and lettings was a single retail business and a retailer was recruited to lead this area.”

He says this policy, which led to the recruitment of Sam Tyrer from Carphone Warehouse, was wrong. Tyrer, who also designed Countrywide’s digital offering which, along with its ‘retail’ philosophy has also been reversed, left last summer.

The annual report also spells out the cost of redundancies over the last two years, but Countrywide’s biggest problem appears to be its debt.

During 2016, when the ‘retail’ experiment was at its height, the bill in respect of “associated redundancy” costs was £8,109,000.

Last year, a further £7.9m was spent “in respect of redundancy costs and cost optimisation”.

The AGM, on April 25, is likely to be a lively affair with shareholders being presented with several sets of figures.

These include sales of 41,722 homes last year, well down on the 50,362 of 2016, with 62,646 properties under management compared with 65,352 in 2016.

The numbers exclude the London market, where Countrywide sold 8,778 homes (down from 10,951 in 2016) and managed 26,644 properties, up from 2016’s 25,792.

Countrywide’s annual report for last year is headed “Resetting, Refocusing, Responding”.

It also reveals that the business now has a network of over 850 branches – although Countrywide’s own website seems to talk about the past with its reference to  “1,200 locations across the UK”.

(http://www.countrywide.co.uk/)

However, the report also refers to “approximately” 649 sales and lettings branches. The business confirms it saw an increased level of staff churn last year.

The report says that “replacing this expertise is a key area of focus”.

Long, who says that this year has started with a management change and a recovery plan, warns: “2018 will not be an easy year for the Group as we strategically reset the business.”

The report, which notes that Platt resigned on January 24 this year, says that Long will receive a fee of £180,000 from that date in recognition of his executive role, on top of the £180,000 he gets as non-executive chairman.

The total amount is fixed, regardless of whether Long under-achieves, meets or over-achieves on targets.

The report says that Platt earned £575,000 in both 2016 and 2017, plus further pay taking her total to £676,000 in both years.

As a non-executive director for Tesco, she retained a fee of £84,500.

  • Countrywide has also announced the departure of Dan Channer, of Finders Keepers in Oxford, which was sold to Countrywide in 2016. He leaves next month and will be succeeded by Paul Rushworth.