Vistry and Countryside deal to complete next month

Vistry’s £1.2bn merger with Countryside is expected to officially complete on 11 November, it has told the stock market.

The housebuilder published a circular and prospectus outlining the expected timetable for the merger. The merger is expected to complete on 11 November once shareholders have approved the deal and legal consents have been secured. By 14 November, Vistry shares are expected to have been issued to Countryside shareholders and will start being dealt on the London Stock exchange.

Vistry also said that it still expects its adjusted profit before tax for the year to 31 December to be around £417m, despite the turmoil in the financial markets following last month’s mini-budget.

It said sales rates since 8 September, when it reported its half-year results, have remained stable with weekly average private sales per unit at 0.78, compared to 0.75 for the same period last year.

It said: “Despite recent political and macroeconomic developments and the resultant disruption to mortgage markets, the Vistry Group’s order book remains strong, and the partnerships business is well positioned to meet the very high level of counter-cyclical demand across all tenures”

The prospectus published on Friday also lists key risks to the business, including the potential impact of market instability.

See also: What are housebuilding’s prospects in the wake of the mini-budget?

It said: “The deterioration of the UK economy, brought about by uncertainty, loss of consumer confidence, increasing inflation, higher interests rates and higher energy prices, could lead to decreased affordability, reduced demand for housing and falling house prices, which could have a material adverse impact on the business, prospects, financial condition and/or results of operations of the Vistry Group, the Countryside Group and the Combined Group.”

It also said “constraints on the availability of mortgage products, the exit of mortgage providers from the UK market as well as funding and higher costs of mortgage funding may adversely affect the home sales” of the group.