DIRECTOR’S DEALS

Peter Long, 66 Executive chairman, Countrywide

PETER Long, chairman of ailing estate agent chain Countrywide, has spent almost £300,000 to help it stay afloat.

The father-of-three and serial part-timer, who is also Royal Mail’s chairman and a board member at travel firm Tui, bought 2.9m of the 1.4bn new shares Countrywide issued, worth a total of £286,556.

Struggling Countrywide, which owns estate agents such as Bairstow Eves and Hamptons, has sold the hefty chunk of new shares to raise a £140m lifeline.