Vistry builds homes across the UK, mostly for housing associations, councils and rental investors rather than for individual buyers. In 2023 it set targets of 40% return on capital and £800m of operating profit. By September 2026 it was reporting a half-year loss, an exit from the South East of England and a plan to shrink to about 12,000 homes a year. The latest close was 221p on 13 October 2026, against 1,384p at the end of July 2024.
Homes sold before they are built
Vistry calls itself a mixed-tenure housebuilder. A typical site mixes homes sold to partners with homes sold on the open market. Partners are Registered Providers (housing associations), Local Authorities and Private Rented Sector (PRS) investors. At Ford Airfield in Arundel, for example, 1,500 homes were planned and 750 affordable homes were pre-sold to Abri and Clarion.
In 2025 Vistry completed 15,658 homes on revenue of about £4.2bn. Partner Funded homes made up 74% of completions and Open Market 26%. The company says it delivered one in seven of the country's affordable homes. Partner pre-sales cut the cash tied up in a site, but the company says the model still needs healthy open-market sales to earn its intended returns. 4 Mar 2026 26 Mar 2024 24 Sep 2026
The partnerships bet, 2023 to mid-2024
The company says its Partnerships strategy began in September 2023. It integrated Countryside Partnerships and moved away from traditional housebuilding. In March 2024 it set medium-term targets of a 40% return on capital employed and £800m of adjusted operating profit. It also promised to return £1bn to shareholders within three years and to be in net cash by 31 December 2024.
Trading supported this at first. Completions rose 7% in 2024 to 17,225 homes, and the shares climbed from 707p in October 2023 to 1,384p in July 2024. 14 Mar 2024 5 Sep 2024 26 Mar 2025 24 Sep 2026
South Division errors and a broken promise
In October 2024 Vistry cut profit guidance by about £80m after revising cost forecasts on nine South Division sites. A November update raised the total impact to £165m. In December guidance fell again, from about £300m to £250m, because deals slipped. The company has not said why the forecasts were wrong.
Adjusted profit before tax for 2024 was £263.5m, against £407.3m restated for 2023. The building safety provision rose £117.1m, and year-end net debt was £180.7m, not the promised net cash. The shares fell from 1,306p in September 2024 to 572p in December. The medium-term 40% return and £800m profit targets were not repeated in the September 2026 plan. 8 Oct 2024 8 Nov 2024 24 Dec 2024 26 Mar 2025 24 Sep 2026
Stabilising, then a cash squeeze in 2026
Through 2025 Vistry reported steady results. Adjusted profit was £268.8m and net debt fell to £144.2m. The government's £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) promised more partner demand. In March 2026 the company guided to net cash of about £100m by year end. It also announced that Greg Fitzgerald, then Chair and CEO, would retire. The shares fell from 697p at the end of February to 332p at the end of March, and the company has not said why.
Adam Daniels became CEO in April 2026. Management cut prices to turn stock into cash. A July update showed a first-half loss of about £30m, and the September results showed £83m. Net debt at 30 June was £469m, against £293m a year earlier. 4 Mar 2026 13 Apr 2026 13 May 2026 8 Jul 2026 24 Sep 2026
Growth ran ahead of control
Management's own review says the partnership model is sound but was applied unevenly. It says the pace of change outran the operating model, controls and culture. It found large variation in profit and return by region. It also found too much money in land and unfinished homes, and weak open-market demand made that worse. About 60% of the business is performing well, with an average gross margin of 18.5%. 24 Sep 2026
“The review identified inconsistent regional application of the mixed-tenure model, variable commercial terms and excessive capital tied up in land and work in progress.” 24 Sep 2026
New CEO, a smaller company
Fitzgerald became Executive Chair and CEO in 2024. He left the chair in May 2026 and the CEO role in April 2026, when Daniels took over. Rob Woodward became Non-Executive Chair. CFO Tim Lawlor said in July he would leave in October; Vistry says it will name a new CFO imminently. Fitzgerald bought about £0.9m of shares in March 2026 and Daniels about £0.1m in July.
Daniels' review, announced on 24 September 2026, cuts regions from 25 to 12 and reduces the owned land bank from 51,000 to 36,000 plots. South East operations move to a fully pre-sold model. Overhead savings of £50m a year are planned within two years, on top of £25m already identified. Share buybacks have stopped, and distributions will be reconsidered after debt falls. 4 Mar 2026 17 Mar 2026 13 Apr 2026 8 Jul 2026 24 Sep 2026 12 Mar 2026 15 Jul 2026
Losses, write-offs and a smaller order book
First-half adjusted loss before tax was £83.3m, including about £50m of review costs. The reported loss was £661.3m, including a £475m goodwill write-down and £73.2m more for building safety. Completions were 6,304, down 8%. Open-market sales slowed to 0.3 reservations per outlet per week over the summer.
The forward order book is £3.3bn on a stricter definition, against £3.7bn a year earlier, with 91% of FY26 sold. Banks have waived interest-cover tests for FY26 and the first half of 2027. On the positive side, Vistry won a £350m direct SAHP grant, the largest in that round, to build over 3,000 affordable homes. 24 Sep 2026 25 Aug 2026
Targets reset, delivery still to be shown
The year-end cash target has moved down. In March 2026 it was net cash of about £100m. It was above £100m in May and July. In September it became a broadly neutral position at 31 December 2026. Management expects about £470m of one-off items in FY26 for the South East exit and site changes. Excluding those, it expects adjusted profit before tax of about £165m. It expects about £185m in FY27 if markets stay broadly stable, and does not expect to raise equity.
Five-year targets set on 24 September 2026 are over 30% return on capital and a 12% operating margin by FY31. They also cover about 12,000 homes a year at 60:40 partner to open market. Capital employed would fall to about £1.5bn. Average daily net debt is targeted at about £500m in FY27, below £400m in FY28 and about £300m by FY29. Open questions are whether open-market sales recover, whether partner deals meet the tighter terms, and whether the new CFO and CEO deliver where earlier targets slipped. 24 Sep 2026 4 Mar 2026 13 May 2026 8 Jul 2026
Written by AI from Vistry Group's own announcements since Oct 2023 · every paragraph links to its sources