* Core earnings fall 22.5 pct
* Scraps 2017 dividend
* Reducing HQ headcount
* 2018 pipeline "significantly lower"
* Shares fall 24 pct(Adds conference call, analysts, details)
By Radhika Rukmangadhan
March 8 (Reuters) - Countrywide Plc,
It pledged to go "back to basics" to return its sales andlettings business to profitable growth after what it called a"disappointing year".
"We have got to put our resources back in the front line andnot at the head office," said Executive Chairman Peter Long,adding that restructuring would reduce headcount to 350 from400.
Countrywide warned that its 2018 property pipeline was"significantly lower" and that it expected a fall of about 36percent (10 million pounds) in first-half adjusted earningsbefore interest, taxation and amortisation (EBITDA).
Its 2017 adjusted EBITDA fell 22.5 percent to 64.7 millionpounds while group income fell almost 9 percent to 671.9 millionpounds.
Shares in Countrywide plunged to a record low of
"The next few months will be messy as new plans are put intoplace," Jefferies analysts said in a note to clients. "However,banks are lending their support to the new plan and we believethose equity investors who choose to do the same will have theirpatience rewarded."
Countrywide has lost market share to other traditionalcompetitors in a market where demand has been hit by higherproperty taxes and
CEO Alison Platt, who had taken personal responsibility forreviving the company's main sales and lettings business inAugust, resigned in January.
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