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Vistry Group Unveils Business Overhaul Amid First-half Loss; Shares Plunge

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Vistry Group Unveils Business Overhaul Amid First-half Loss; Shares Plunge

Shares in Vistry Group (VTY.L) dropped 10% on Thursday morning after the homebuilder outlined plans to turn around the business and reported a hefty first-half loss.

Attributable loss for the six months ended June 30 clocked in at 607 million pounds sterling, compared with a profit of 31.3 million pounds a year earlier. Revenue dropped to 1.42 billion pounds from 1.64 billion pounds a year ago.

Adam Daniels, who took the helm as chief executive in April, said the company completed an extensive review of its business and operating model, which "made clear that our execution, regional discipline and capital allocation have not been consistent enough."

"We are repositioning Vistry as a specialist mixed-tenure housebuilder that will deliver consistent, cash-backed growth in earnings alongside highly attractive returns on capital. To achieve this, the group will need to be smaller, more focused geographically and with increased discipline and control in operational delivery and allocation of capital," Daniels added.

Under the plan, the company intends to transition to a smaller, more focused business targeting 12,000 completions per year over the medium term, with a target tenure mix of 60% partner-funded and 40% open market.

It will also move its South East operations to a fully pre-sold model to eliminate open market exposure and consolidate its overall operations to 12 larger regions from the current 25 regions. The company expects the consolidation to help reduce overhead cost by 50 million pounds per year, which is in addition to previously identified savings of 25 million pounds through a voluntary exit scheme and recruitment freeze.

The company also flagged a 40 million-pound downward revision of its 2026 profit, reflecting partner deals that are no longer expected to be completed this year due to renegotiations under revised criteria. Excluding this and a few other factors, the company expects its adjusted pretax profit for 2026 to be 165 million pounds. For 2027, it projected an adjusted pretax profit of 185 million pounds.

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