Twenty former Bairstow Eves branches have left the network since the franchise business was bought from Countrywide by north-based Hunters last September.
A further 15-20 branches are still with the business but have so far refused to rebrand to Hunters, wanting to retain their old name.
Hunters managing director Kevin Hollinrake was open about the problems, but said that overall he was very pleased with the progress made since the surprise acquisition.
He said: “In the last six months we have rebranded 50 offices, including 30 across London and the South-East.
“Most importantly, the majority of these have seen business levels increase – some are as high as 70% up year on year. There are no branches that have fully utilised our investment and marketing package which have suffered from the brand change.
“We now have over 100 Hunters branches across the UK.
“We have agreed exit terms for around 20 branches, and as a consequence of the lost revenue we have had to make some reductions in staff numbers within the department, but all these have been by way of voluntary redundancy.”
He said there had been three redundancies.
Hollinrake said: “There are around 15-20 branches who want to retain the Bairstow Eves brand, and although we have stated that we won’t force a rebrand, we are still working with them to promote the benefits of working with a franchisor and brand which is committed to a franchised model.
“We believe that there are ever more compelling reasons to be part of a network, particularly to provide a strong negotiating position with key industry suppliers such as the property portals and to deliver cost-effective access to the latest technology and marketing channels.”
The Countrywide Franchise management team, led by Andrew Grant, joined Hunters team as part of the deal, which went through for an undisclosed sum.
The purchase turned Hunters overnight into a national force, going from 17 high street offices, all in the north, plus 33 Personal Agents.
Comments
Had a great chance today and told a BE neg that with 40% of business compared to the good times why are they cutting fees to less than 1%.
Cheeky BE man says they dont do that!!!!
What say you others out there with some branches showing a 50% reduction in fees.
Hmm, what could be worse than a BE brand!