18th May 2023 10:13
(Alliance News) - Vistry Group PLC on Thursday said it has traded in-line with expectations in the first 19 weeks of 2023 and noted improving market conditions in the year-to-date.
The West Malling, England-based housebuilder said its forward sales position is strong, totalling GBP4.48 billion, with 75% of forecast Partnership mixed tenure units and 74% of forecast Housebuilding units secured for 2023.
Partnership forwards sales total GBP3.07 billion and Housebuilding forward sales total GBP1.41 billion.
Vistry said its sales rate has continued to improve, with the average weekly private sales rate per site per week at 0.83 for the year-to-date.
As a result, Chief Executive Greg Fitzgerald said he was "increasingly confident" on the outlook for the firm and expects adjusted pretax profit for financial 2023 to be in excess of GBP450 million.
In 2022, adjusted pretax profit stood at GBP418.4 million. Vistry's guidance would therefore represent an increase of 7.6% year-on-year, if achieved.
"We are well positioned to manage costs, reflecting the enlarged group's increased purchasing scale and the visibility of revenues within our Partnerships business, and for financial 2023 we are targeting to offset any inflationary cost increases. The integration of Countryside continues to make excellent progress and we expect to deliver GBP25 million of synergies in financial 2023 and the full run rate of GBP60 million by the end of financial 2024," Fitzgerald said.
Vistry noted that the housebuilding sector continues to address the challenges of "unprecedented" regulatory change but said it is "well positioned" to mitigate this.
Shares in Vistry were up 3.4% at 841.45p on Thursday morning in London.
By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter
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