Housebuilder Vistry issues third profit warning in three months as it takes another £50m hit
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Vistry, the housebuilding group, has issued its third profit warning in recent months, stating that delays to home completions and deals will reduce its annual profit by approximately £50m. The company now anticipates a pre-tax profit of around £250m for the calendar year, down from its previous estimate of £300m. Vistry, which specialises in affordable housing and collaborates with local authorities, expects most of the delayed deals to be completed next year.
The firm also decided to halt several deals where "the commercial terms on offer were not sufficiently attractive". Vistry stated: "The group believes more attractive options will be available in (2025).". Despite this, the company reported "good demand" from its partners in the final quarter, securing over 70 deals with housing associations and local councils. However, this marks Vistry’s third significant profit downgrade since October.
At that time, it revealed that costs for nine out of 46 developments in its southern division, including some large-scale schemes, had been underestimated by about 10%. This revelation reduced the expected profit by £80m, to roughly £350m. Just weeks later, it informed investors that these costs would further decrease profits by an additional £50m to £300m. Before markets opened on Tuesday, Vistry shares were down 28% for the year.
Chief executive Greg Fitzgerald described the result as "disappointing" and acknowledged that the past few months had been "challenging". He declared: "Our top priority for 2025 is to continue building and delivering high quality mixed tenure new homes for our partners and private customers, and to do our part in addressing the country’s acute housing shortage.
