Vistry issues third profit warning in as many months with original forecast now slashed by 40%

Vistry has issued its third profit warning in the past three months, meaning it has cut its pre-tax profit forecast by more than 40% since October.

The housebuilder, which is set to become the biggest by number of homes built this year, said pre-tax profit will be £50m less than previously expected when it announces its 2024 numbers in the spring.

In the update, made on Christmas Eve, the firm said it now expected pre-tax profit to be around £250m – £50m less than the £300m it was previously expecting.

The £300m figure was already a fall from the £350 it had said it would be make - which itself was down from the previous figure of £430m.

Explaining the original profit warning in October, the firm said the cost of completing nine schemes in the South region would be 10% higher than expected.

The issues were blamed for the second profit warning the following month – which also saw the firm announce chief operating officer Earl Sibley would be leaving at the end of last year – and in the Christmas Eve update, Vistry said the latest fall was “primarily due to delays to expected year-end transactions and completions”.

It added: “The group has seen a number of agreements with its partners which were expected to complete in FY24 take longer to conclude, and now expects these transactions to complete in FY25.

“In addition, the group has chosen not to proceed with a number of proposed transactions where the commercial terms on offer were not sufficiently attractive. The group believes more attractive options will be available in FY25. We have also seen a delay to some open market completions expected in FY24 which has, to a lesser extent, contributed to the profit impact.”

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Vistry in November said it had been contacting shareholders to alleviate their concerns after one in five revolted against the re-election of boss Greg Fitzgerald as director of the company in May. 

The housebuilder in May made Fitzgerald executive chair of the business in addition to chief executive, in a departure from the UK Corporate Governance Code.

This move has proved unpopular with some shareholders, with only 79% voting in favour of Fitzgerald’s re-election.

Vistry is expected to make a further update in a scheduled trading statement 15 January ahead of its annual results being released on 6 March.