Vistry has begun a process of job cuts and restructuring as it looks to become a “smaller, more focused and disciplined business”.
The housebuilder said that the move was “difficult but necessary” after making a loss of £660million in the first half of the year, and will start reducing headcount and restructuring the operating regions from 25 to 12. The Group says that the MDs and management teams have been confirmed, with the new structure set to be in place and operational from January.
Adam Daniels, Chief Executive of Vistry, commented: “Since announcing the conclusions of the CEO Review in September, we have continued to take decisive action to create a smaller, more focused and disciplined business. Our immediate priorities remain generating cash, lowering financial leverage, improving operational control and reducing complexity, whilst maintaining tight commercial discipline.”
“In the six weeks since our interim results announcement, we have secured a high calibre CFO, Helen Miles, who will join us in 2027, with a highly experienced CFO, Robert Allen, appointed as interim CFO ahead of her arrival; signed our £350million SAHP grant agreement with Homes England; begun reshaping our land bank, with a number of well-progressed transactions scheduled to complete before the year end; and commenced our bank refinancing process, consistent with the objectives set out in September.”
The trading update said that alongside operational and commercial control, cash generation and debt reduction remain immediate priorities for the Group, and that actions taken to reduce open market work in progress, realise value from the land bank and improve the terms of partner-funded transactions, homes funded by local authorities, housing associations or BtR investors, are expected to deliver positive contributions in the remainder of the financial year.
Daniels continued: “We are seeing benefits from our commercial initiatives, but current trading continues to reflect a challenging open market backdrop and a slow but gradual build-up in partner-funded transaction activity, reflecting the early stage of grant deployment under the Social and Affordable Housing Programme.”
Vistry says that open market conditions remain difficult, reflecting affordability constraints as well as cautious consumer sentiment and wider macroeconomic uncertainty. As a result, the housebuilder says that it is “tightly aligning build rates with demand”.
However, the Group says that it is encouraged by the government’s Your First Home scheme, although it expects some first-time buyer uncertainty in the near term as customers await further details and implementation of the initiative.
