Foxtons boss quits to set up rival

THE managing director of Foxtons, the upmarket estate agent, has quit after a rift with the founder over ownership of the business.

Peter Rollings, 42, was the public face of Foxtons and helped build the company into London's largest agency.

Known for its fleet of 466 bottle-green and yellow Minis, the firm rode into a storm of controversy 18 months ago after admitting it had, in the past, told sub-contractors to destroy rival For Sale boards.

After years of relentless growth in profits and turnover, Rollings told Foxton's 51-year-old founder and chief executive, Jon Hunt, he was resigning after failing in what had been a regular annual request for a share in the firm.

Rollings said he has financial backing to start his own central London agency, a move that could ignite a turf war with Foxtons and other firms chasing the City's high earners.

He intends to deal in the same niche as his old firm, 'the middle market - £300,000 to £1.5m homes'. He added: 'I shall try to build a business that has many of Foxtons' attributes. The model will be between Foxtons, which is progressive and aggressive, and those sleepy firms which should not be in business.'

Rollings will not have to wait before he can start poaching clients and staff from Foxtons - not that is his stated aim, he insists - as he has no service contract meaning he is not bound by any 'non-compete' agreement. But no contract also means Rollings will not receive a hefty pay-off.

But Rollings added: 'The last thing I want to do is to antagonise Jon Hunt - it is not my way'. A new firm should be open for business within the next few weeks.

Foxtons declined to comment, other than noting his 'recent departure'. Rollings had been a main board director since April 1996, after starting in the firm's Fulham office in 1985 when the company had only 33 staff. Under his leadership, it has grown to 1030 UK staff with 36 offices - half in London and half in Surrey.

'I have spent nearly 20 years being part of a business in unbelievably good company. I have been after an equity stake. I have been cornering him [Hunt] about it every year. But I knew it would never happen so I decided to leave and do my own thing.'

The head of a rival agency said of Hunt: 'He would not mind people saying that he is a hard man.' Rollings added: 'He is a hard man but you do not build a business like that by being Mr Nice Guy - I was the friendly face of Foxtons.'

Foxtons' accounts to 31 December 2003 show profits after tax rose to almost £6m on turnover of £46.9m, with the highest paid director on £256,127. Rollings said he was the highest paid. Foxtons' majority-owned US operations made trading losses of $14.9m (£7.9m) in 2002-03.