(Reuters) - British real estate agent Countrywide's (L:CWD) Chief Executive Alison Platt is stepping down, heading off a tenure that included dealing with a brutal slump in the market in the wake of Brexit.
The departure comes a week after the biggest U.K. lettings and estate firm warned on its full-year profit and posted disappointing fourth-quarter results that sent shares down about 20 percent.
The company did not name a replacement for Platt, who took the helm in 2014. She will also resign from the board, the company said in a statement.
Paul Creffield, previously managing director of the company's commercial development division, has been appointed as group operations director with immediate effect, Countrywide said.
Creffield's responsibilities will now also include the sales and lettings division, the company said.
The company also said on Wednesday it asked Peter Long, currently a non-executive chairman on the board, to become the executive chairman.
"Within our core Sales and Lettings area ... we have lost focus and a key priority will be to implement changes that will enable this area to start delivering once again," Long said.
The company said in August that Platt would take on more responsibilities as it executes a new organisational structure.