Vistry posts slump in profits, Ithaca Energy reports results at top-end of guidance

Stocks to watch

House builder Vistry reported a slump in profits after a “disappointing” year amid challenging market conditions and cost forecasting issues in its South Division in the last quarter of the year. Pre-tax profit for 2024 fell 64% to £105.5m despite a 7% rise in completions. Vistry added that its forward order book totalled £4.4bn in the year to date, compared with £4.6bn last year, while the group sales rate was down to 0.59 per site per week from 0.81, reflecting a low volume of Partner Funded transactions in the first quarter.

Ithaca Energy reported production and financial performance at the top end of guidance in its full-year results on Wednesday, declaring total dividends of $500m. The FTSE 250 company said the year was marked by the transformational acquisition of Eni’s UK upstream assets in October, making Ithaca the largest resource holder and second-largest independent producer in the UK Continental Shelf. It also completed a $2.25bn refinancing as it maintained robust operational momentum into early 2025, while the board reaffirmed its $500m dividend target for the current year.

Newspaper round-up

Block, Jack Dorsey’s financial technology company, plans to let go almost 1,000 current employees, while making other changes to its operations in its second such move in just over a year. Dorsey, who co-founded and previously ran Twitter before co-founding Block in 2009, informed employees of the impending cuts on Tuesday in an email, viewed by the Guardian, titled “smaller block”. The layoffs will impact more than 930 employees, with another nearly 200 managers being moved into non-management roles, and another nearly 800 open jobs will be closed, according to the email. – Guardian

A US judge ordered a 23 June trial date in the Department of Justice’s criminal fraud case against Boeing over the American planemaker’s alleged misrepresentations to regulators about a key system on the 737 Max. Families of the victims of two deadly Max crashes, which claimed 346 lives, hailed an “opportunity for justice” on Tuesday. Boeing said it was in “good faith discussions” with the justice department. The US federal government was accused last year of cooking up a “sweetheart plea deal” with Boeing, after it emerged the company had been given the chance to enter a guilty plea and pay a fine as part of its sentence, avoiding a high-profile trial. - Guardian

Donald Trump’s trade war will weaken America’s economic strength and fuel concerns about the country’s ballooning deficit, an influential credit rating agency said. In a stark warning to investors, Moody’s said that Mr Trump’s tariff policy would “weigh on business investment, dampen consumer confidence and prevent the Fed from reducing interest rates”. – Telegraph

The online betting giant owned by one of Britain’s richest executives is exiting the online gambling sector in China as it looks to focus on its core markets. Bet365, the family-owned gambling business run by Denise and John Coates, confirmed reports that it will call time on its operations in China. According to EGR, the gaming industry news site, Bet365’s account on X noted that as of March 27 the operator will “unfortunately no longer be providing our services to customers in China”. – The Times

A cryptocurrency venture backed by President Trump and his family is planning to launch a stablecoin backed by US government debt. World Liberty Financial, a crypto company founded by Donald Trump and his sons, Donald Jr, Eric and Barron, two months before the US presidential election last year, said the stablecoin, called USD1, would be fully backed by US treasuries, dollars and other cash equivalents. – The Times

US close

Wall Street closed slightly higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the prior session amid reports of a partial ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia.

The deal, which covers energy infrastructure and the Black Sea, did not seem to significantly sway investor sentiment as market participants continued to look for clarity on the size and shape of president Donald Trump’s next round of tariffs.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.01% to 42,587.50, while the S&P 500 gained 0.16% to 5,776.65.

The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, rising 0.46% to 18,271.86, supported by strength in technology shares.

In economic news, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell sharply in March, dropping 7.2 points to 92.9.