Housebuilder Vistry Slashes Profit Forecasts as Losses Balloon

Vistry Group, one of Britain's biggest housebuilders, has slashed its annual profit expectations after half-year losses ballooned amid a £600 million pile of unsold homes, according to The Guardian.

The company, which owns the Bovis Homes and Countryside brands, unveiled a further cost-cutting plan that includes job losses, blaming poor summer sales of private homes for the deteriorating outlook.

Adam Daniel, Vistry's new chief executive, said "the issues can be fixed" as he set out a detailed turnaround plan. The plan involves pulling the company out of private sales in south-east England and slimming its operations to reposition Vistry as a more focused builder targeting around 12,000 homes a year.

The downgrade adds to a difficult period for the UK housebuilding sector, which has faced pressure from weaker demand for private homes even as underlying need for housing remains high across the country.

Vistry's shift toward a smaller, more focused operating model reflects an effort by its new leadership to stabilize the business after the unsold-homes overhang and mounting losses forced a reassessment of its growth strategy.

Further details on the number of jobs expected to be affected by the cost-cutting plan were not specified in the report.