£140m lifeline for embattled estate agent

SHARES in Countrywide hit all-time lows as investors threw the crisishit estate agent a £140m lifeline.

In another brutal day of trading for the firm, its stock fell 10.7pc, or 1.5p, to 13.3p, bringing its total losses this year to more than 80pc.

The slump in the share price was yet another setback for executive chairman Peter Long who has come under fire for his running of Countrywide as well as Royal Mail where he is also chairman.

The 66-year- old serial parttimer was rocked by one of the biggest shareholder revolts in British corporate history at Royal Mail last month when more than 70pc of investors voted against fat- cat pay at the company.

Just weeks later he faced a furious backlash from investors at Countrywide over a pay deal that would have handed three executives – including himself – £20m. Those plans were hastily scrapped ahead of a crucial meeting yesterday where shareholders backed the £140m rescue plan.

Under the deal, Countrywide sold 1.4bn new shares in a bid to more than halve its crippling debts of £200m.

Long, who also works for travel group Tui, has said the cash injection from investors is vital to the estate agent’s turnaround plans after a string of profit warnings. However, analysts were still gloomy about the problems facing the company, including a slowdown in the housing market and competition from online rivals such as Purplebricks.

Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘Countrywide is back from the brink, though it is still fighting an uphill battle on a rather slippery slope.

‘The injection of cash will keep the wheels turning for now, but that money is being used to pay down debt rather than to fund growth.’