Vistry Slashes Regions to 12 as £661m Loss Exposes Scale of Reset

Vistry crashed to a £661m statutory pre-tax loss in the first half of the year and will cut its operating regions from 25 to 12 in a radical reset of the business.

Chief executive Adam Daniels unveiled the sweeping rescue plan alongside the half-year results. The loss, which compares with a £41m profit in the same period last year, included a £475m goodwill impairment and a further £73m building safety charge.

Even on an adjusted basis, Vistry swung to an £83m pre-tax loss from an £81m profit a year earlier. That figure is far worse than the roughly £30m first-half deficit flagged in July, when the first costs of Daniels' business review began to surface.

The restructuring will shrink annual housing output to around 12,000 homes, down from a 17,000-home peak in 2024. Under the new structure, Vistry will operate through 10 larger regions outside London and two in the capital, concentrating management and site teams where it believes its mixed-tenure model can deliver the strongest returns.

The shake-up has identified a further £50m of annual overhead savings through fewer regions, flatter management and lower housing volumes. That comes on top of £25m already targeted through the voluntary exit programme and recruitment freeze. Vistry expects restructuring to cost around £40m this year as staff leave and offices close.

Retreat from the South East

The biggest geographic retreat will come in the South East, where Vistry plans to stop taking open-market housing risk. Future investment will concentrate on the North, Midlands and West. Private-heavy sites will either be switched towards partner-funded delivery or run down, with future work focused on fully pre-sold schemes backed by affordable housing partners.

The change is expected to wipe around £200m from 2026 profit through write-downs, heavier discounting and lower site margins. A wider landbank clear-out will cost another £250m as Vistry sells, restructures or changes course on sites that no longer fit its new model.

The group ultimately plans to cut its owned landbank from around 51,000 plots to 36,000. Around 60% of future production is expected to be partner-funded, with 40% sold on the open market.

Daniels' review found patchy regional performance, inconsistent commercial terms and too much cash locked into land and work in progress.

He said: "While the challenges we have experienced in the last couple of years have been exacerbated by market headwinds, the review has also made clear that our execution, regional discipline and capital allocation have not been consistent enough."

"These issues can be fixed, and we are taking the necessary steps to ensure the strong performance we have seen across many of our sites is replicated across the group as a whole."

Debt and Downgrades

First-half completions fell 8% to 6,304 homes while adjusted revenue dropped 9% to £1.7bn. Average daily net debt remained a heavy £799m, with period-end net debt at £469m.

Vistry has ditched its previous target to finish 2026 with more than £100m of net cash and instead expects to end the year broadly debt neutral. The downgrade reflects weaker summer private sales and Vistry walking away from or renegotiating partner deals that no longer meet its tougher return criteria.

The company's banks have waived interest-cover covenants for 2026 and the first half of 2027. Vistry will also open talks later this year over refinancing £900m of facilities due to mature in April 2028.

Daniels said the group did not expect to need an equity raise as the reset gathers pace. Average daily debt is targeted to fall to around £500m next year, below £400m in 2028 and around £300m from 2029 — a timeline that will test whether a smaller, partner-funded Vistry can restore consistent returns.