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Vistry Group PLC on Friday said it predicts its profit to be ahead of previous guidance in 2023, and it announced that Chair Ralph Findlay was stepping down. The Kent, England-based housebuilder said Chair Findlay will step down at the company’s annual general meeting on May 16. He will be replaced by Chief Executive Officer Greg Fitzgerald, taking on the roles of chair & CEO. Vistry said it has begun a search for an experience senior director to provide additional oversight on governance matters. Vistry said it now expects adjusted pretax profit for 2023 to be in line with 2022’s £418.4 million, which is ahead of its previous guidance of £403 million. Completions fell ‘only’ 5.4% over the year to 16,124 units from 17,038 in 2022, which Vistry said represents a significant outperformance to its peers, and reflects ‘the resilience of [its] Partnerships model’. The company said its sales rate for 2023 averaged 0.96 sales per week per site, up from 0.71 in 2022. It added: ‘Demand in the open market has remained suppressed throughout the year reflecting the higher interest rate environment and inflationary cost pressures on household income. Incentives have been used to support open market sales and have been running at around 5% of open market price.’ However, it said robust mortgage rates have abated in ‘recent weeks’. ‘We are optimistic that this will help stimulate demand in 2024,’ it added. Forward sales at year-end were up 12% from 12 months prior at £4.5 billion, it added. CEO Fitzgerald said: ‘Looking ahead, working with our highly valued partners we are committed to increasing the delivery of much needed homes across the country, and in the fourth quarter have continued to secure exciting new developments that reflect our high return, asset-light partnerships model.’ Vistry shares rose 2.9% to 995.50 pence each on Friday morning in London. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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