Shares in Countrywide went down almost 8% yesterday, finishing the day at about 4.4p.
Because the share price is low, the drop only equated to about 0.4p and the shares tend to be volatile in any case. In early trading this morning, the share price picked back up by some 3.4% to almost 4.6p.
The firm has had a bruising week, with a £100,000 fine levied by the RICS after a disciplinary tribunal looked into how Countrywide dealt with just over £10m worth of surplus client money over a period of some ten years.
Countrywide accepted two charges against it, and also a reprimand.
As of yesterday evening, the company had not issued an RNS statement about the hearing or its outcome.
EYE has asked whether it will be doing so.
The RICS is likely to publish a fuller report of the disciplinary hearing and its outcome today.
Comments (4)
I see the end of the road coming soon for this company.
So does Countrywide escape paying over the £10m to charity?
The full determination will be going live today on the RICS website
Share price drop albeit on low volume is probably more due to a reaction that Foxtons have shed more revenue and that is with a half decent set of BODS .
CWD with the added millstone of £90m debt . compliance issues means any confidence that the BODS are capable of turning this battleship around in a challenging market has disappeared over the horizon with its backside on fire .
Some major clients who have instructed CWD to manage their porfolios must be thinking twice about renewing contracts .
Spare a thought too for the hard working fee earner at CWD seeing their hard earned fees squandered by an inept set of BODS You would have thought some of the major shareholders would be seeking some regime change . No trading update is expected from CWD until next years .
Certain amount of complacency amongst the major shareholders. Brandes have taken a good hiding and have been jettisoning shares Maybe Oaktree who are still the largest shareholder with over 18% are content to let it wither on the vine .Having their eye on the prize again -the debt .Rinse and repeat ,private shareholder thrown overboard .
Scroll back the clock a decade
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/4682219/Distressed-debt-investors-Alchemy-and-Oaktree-take-control-of-Countrywide.html
Expect more of the same revenue down 5% , more goodwill being written off and very little inroads into the £90m debt
The question is, how many more difficult half year/end of year results can the battleship take, and how more PR disasters and blunders can the BOD’s absorb?
66% of the way through the “back to basics” campaign, surely the £’s per instruction, market share, profitability and share price will be showing signs of significant improvement under the BOD’s that initiated the changes? January will tell us an awful lot methinks