It was a year of two halves for estate agent Countrywide (CWD). It facilitated the exchange of 11 per cent more houses than in 2013, but the growth slowed from 20 per cent in the first half to 4 per cent in the second as tighter mortgage requirements and worries about interest rate increases hit demand.
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However, the group is not as exposed to the volatile estate-agency market as it used to be. A full 40 per cent of profits now comes from activities not directly impacted by residential transaction volumes. Last year the lettings business once again grew strongly, with cash profits up by more than a third.