Countrywide earnings halve amid 'challenging' market

(Sharecast News) - Estate agency Countrywide said on Wednesday that its full-year earnings halved in a "challenging" market.In a trading statement for the year to 31 December 2018, the company said group adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell to £33m from £65m the year before. This included £2m of net charges resulting from a review of the carrying value of certain assets and liabilities.Excluding the £2m charge, the group's underlying earnings were in line with the board's expectations at £35m.Total income for the year slipped to £627m from £672m, which the company said was a "resilient" performance amid a challenging market. Meanwhile, net debt for the year came in at £70m, with a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 2.2x.Income in the sales and lettings business came in at £329m from £361m the year before, with a particularly strong performance in lettings, which was flat year-on-year, offset by a 16% drop in sales due to the lower pipeline of sales agreed as it ended 2017.Income in the B2B business edged down to £213m from £221m as a good performance in surveying and valuations was offset by a slower market for new homes and slower commercial transactional property market. In the financial services segment, income declined to £84m from £87m in 2017. Countrywide saw another year of strong double digit income growth across the combined buy to let business, mortgage bureau and mortgage intelligence channels, which was offset by lower transactional volumes from estate agency sales."We are encouraged by the progress we have made in our strategy and turnaround plan and in the growth in the register and the pipeline in the UK. Nevertheless, we remain cautious about the market outlook for 2019 and continue to closely monitor market conditions for any potential impact arising from the wider political and economic environment. "We will be in a position to provide further guidance for 2019 with the release of our preliminary results on 7 March 2019."At 0925 GMT, the shares were up 2.2% to 10p.