Vistry’s half-year profits down more than a third as it praises government’s planning reforms

“That was a particular set of events that arose from a few sites where we had a problem, and it doesn’t undermine our strategy. The board has renewed its commitment to our strategy to deliver more schemes, more placemaking, and more affordable homes.”

The errors at Vistry’s South Division came to light last year, when the costs of several projects were discovered to have been understated by millions of pounds.

In the first half of the year, Vistry delivered around 6,800 completions, compared to 7,792 in the first half of 2024.

Much of the focus over the past six months, Mr Teagle said, has been on waiting for the Spending Review. “It’s been very much transitional period,” he said.

Because of this, the house builder found that “partner-funded demand from our affordable housing partners remained at lower levels”.

“We’ve got a very strong pipeline of opportunities that we’re talking to partners with. Many of those are at an advanced stage, and we’re hoping to put those into delivery mode over the next six months,” Mr Teagle said.

He added that the firm was “absolutely delighted” by the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme and pointed out that it had already benefited from the government’s planning reforms.

“We have already had instances where we’ve gained planning with greater speed than we anticipated, and we’ve also had some longer-term planning appeals being resolved more quickly than we anticipated,” he said.

“We can’t underestimate just how impactful the government has been in its first year of office, both in terms of bringing forward planning reforms, releasing land and trying to unblock barriers to delivery, but also in terms of these demand-side measures.”

Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive of Vistry, said: “Vistry’s partnerships strategy is firmly aligned with the government’s plans and we are looking forward to playing a key role in the delivery of this new AHP and, in doing so, supporting the board’s long-term value creation strategy.”

Mr Fitzgerald said Vistry has “a strong forward order book totalling £4.3bn, excluding any benefit from the new AHP funding, which will start to have a positive impact in the second half”.

Vistry’s net debt was “significantly better than expectations” at £295m, down from £322m last year. It also extended its £500m revolving credit facility and £400m term loan to April 2028.

The house builder is one of seven firms that this week agreed to make a voluntary payment into a £100m affordable housing pot in response to concerns raised by the Competition and Markets Authority.

The news came after the watchdog started a probe in February 2024 following evidence that some developers may be sharing commercially sensitive information.