Vistry shares surge as profits jump, unveils £100m buyback

Shares in Vistry surged on Thursday after the UK housebuilder posted a jump in annual profits, unveiled another £100m share buyback and forecast higher completions in 2024 driven by strong demand.

The company on Thursday posted a 23.2% rise in pre-tax profit of £304m for the year to December.

Vistry said it was on track to deliver strong growth in completions in 2024, targeting more than 17,500 units compared with 16,118 homes built a year ago, underpinned by its forward sales position totalling £4.6bn, of which £2.1bn is for delivery this year

It added there had been a “notable pick-up” in demand from private rental sector providers in recent months.

“The easing of mortgage rates at the start of the year has had a positive impact on open market demand and we are optimistic that this trend will continue during 2024,” the company said.

“Open market demand from private buyers remained suppressed during 2023 with our private sales rate significantly below prior years. This reflected higher mortgage borrowing costs, inflationary cost pressures on household income and wider macroeconomic and political uncertainty.”

In a rare foray into UK politics, chief executive Greg Fitzgerald said he expected Vistry to be able to build more homes under a Labour government, believing the main opposition party would put more money into affordable housing to tackle a chronic shortage.

I am pretty confident that from our new-model perspective, we would be better with a Labour government. I think they (Labour) will put more money into affordable housing than the Conservatives," he told the Reuters newswire service.

The ruling Conservatives, in power for 14 years, are trailing Labour by 20 points in the polls and struggling to make headway with economic policies, amid high interest rates and a cost-of-living crisis.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com