STEPPING DOWN

Britain’s largest estate agency group Countrywide said chief financial officer Jim Clarke will step down from the board at the end of July and retire from the company at the end of December. The 56year-old, who has been at Countrywide for over ten years, will be replaced by Himanshu Raja, former finance director at G4S. Shares fell 3.3pc, or 5.25p, to 154.75p.