Delays hit Vistry profit further

Vistry Group has issued a third profit warning for its current financial year, citing delays to expected year-end transactions and completions.

In a trading update today (December 24), the partnerships housebuilder said it now anticipated its adjusted profit before tax for FY24 to be around £250 million. This was stated at around £300 million in guidance given in November – a downward revision on the £350 million given in October when Vistry revealed that build cost increases on schemes in its South Division had impacted its expected profit by around 18%.

Today, Vistry said that a “number of” partnership agreements expected to complete in its year end had taken “longer to conclude” and would likely pass into FY25.

It also explained that it had decided not to proceed with some of its proposed transactions as the commercial terms on offer “were not sufficiently attractive” – it hopes for better options next year.

It also attributed the profit fall, “to a lesser extent,” to delays to some open market completions expected in FY24.

Vistry also said it had continued to enjoy good demand from its partners in the final quarter of the year, concluding more than …