Countrywide has issued a profit warning, blaming Brexit uncertainty for the hit on earnings.
The property services group said its 2019 H1 EBITDA would be £5m lower than in 2018.
The announcement follows the company warning in March that H1 earnings would take a hit of between £3m and £5m.
In a statement released ahead of its annual general meeting today, the company blamed the impact of Brexit uncertainty, stating this had affected the “residential and commercial property markets, particularly in London and the South”.
The statement continued: “As a result, in the first quarter, total group income was £140.3m, compared with £144.6m for the same period in 2018.”
A series of “self-help measures” have been put in place, according to the company, to “realign the cost base to the lower level of market activity”.
The firm said it expects the benefits of these measures to come through during the second half of the year. As a result, Countrywide said it expected adjusted EBITDA to be broadly in line with the board’s expectations for the full year.
For the full year ended 31 December 2018, Countrywide reported group income of £627.1m, which was down 7% on 2017, mainly driven by the opening pipeline deficit in sales.
The business also reported a 50% fall in its adjusted EBITDA to £32.7m for the year, which was impacted by £2.2m of new charges resulting from a review of the carrying value of certain assets and liabilities unrelated to current trading.
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