Vistry outlook remains rosy despite fall in profit

VISTRY's shares finished in the green yesterday despite a fall in profit as the company set out a positive outlook for the coming year.

The Kent-based housebuilder's pretax profit fell to £247.5m from £319.5m the year before, a fall of 23 per cent.

It set aside cash to make buildings fire safe in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell fire, totalling £97m during the year, helping to push down pretax profit by 22.5 per cent.

Earlier this month, the housebuilder signed a contract with the government which will force it to fix any unsafe buildings over a certain height that it put up over the last 30 years.

On an adjusted basis, the housebuilder's profit rose 21 per cent. Vistry also saw a 13 per cent increase in revenue.

Vistry's shares closed up 0.14 per cent yesterday as investors welcomed the firm's outlook.

The group said it expects to deliver adjusted profit before tax for the 2023 financial year in excess of £440m.

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper