Bairstow Eves

Countrywide plc

Type	Public
Traded as	:
Industry	Estate agents
Founded	1986
Headquarters	Chelmsford, Essex
Key people	Peter Long (executive chairman), Jim Clarke (CFO)
Revenue	£ 718.7 million (2015)
Operating income	£ 91.9 million (2015)
Net income	£ 41.8 million (2015)
Number of employees	12,000 (2016)
Website	Countrywide.co.uk

Countrywide PLC is the United Kingdom's largest estate agency group. It employs 11,300 personnel nationwide, working across 1,500 estate agency or lettings offices operating under 47 local high street brands, supplemented by 650 mortgage consultants. Countrywide is listed on the .

In 1986, financial services company Hambros plc, having de-merged its banking arm, acquired two estate agents, Bairstow Eves and Mann & Co, to form a new company called Hambro Countrywide plc, which was listed on the . In 1988, the company created Hambro Assured, then the UK's largest life insurance broker. The group then grew through acquisition, buying Nationwide estate agents and surveyors from Nationwide Building Society in 1994, Spencers from National and Provincial Building Society in 1995 and London firms Faron Sutaria, PKL and John D Wood & Co. in 1997.

In 1998 the business was renamed Countrywide Assured plc and demerged from Hambros plc. After creating a franchise opportunity under the Bairstow Eves brand, the group then restarted its acquisition trail acquiring Friends Provident estate agents and surveyors (in return for long term license to resell Friends Provident financial products) in 2002. The life assurance business was demerged as Chesnara plc in May 2004.

In 2004 it acquired Freeman Foreman group as well as the estate agency business of Bradford and Bingley Building Society. This business had been originally formed as Black Horse Agencies Group by Lloyds Bank in 1982, and purchased as 370 strong chain (including TSB Property Services and Slater Hogg & Howison) by Bradford and Bingley from the then owners Lloyds TSB in April 1998. Slater Hogg & Howison had been acquired by TSB Scotland in 1988 having been established in 1975 by Roy Slater, Iain Hogg and Geoff Howison. The Black Horse name was dropped by Bradford and Bingley in 1999.