LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Housebuilder Vistry lifted its full-year profit guidance on Thursday as it posted a rise in first-half profit and revenue, hailing a better-than-expected performance.
The company said its performance in the half was "significantly" ahead of its expectations, "supported by successful operational integration and positive customer demand".

In the six months to the end of June, adjusted pre-tax profit jumped to £166.1m from £10.3m in the same period a year ago, with revenues up 4.3% compared to the first half of 2019 at £1.26bn. On a reported basis, Vistry swung to a pre-tax profit of £156.2m from a loss of £12.2m in H1 20.

The group saw positive demand across all business areas, with its average weekly private sales rate rising to 0.76 in the first half, up 10% on the pre-pandemic proforma H1 19 rate of 0.69.

"Alongside this strong demand, we have achieved sustained price increases across all of our geographies," it said.

Vistry has compared sales rates, volumes and revenues against proforma H1 19 due to the impact of Covid-19 on the group's 2020 performance. It declared an interim dividend of 20p a share, having not declared one a year earlier.

The housebuilder said it was "well positioned for the full year" as it lifted its expectations for adjusted profit pre-tax profit to around £345m, which is 5% ahead of consensus market expectations.

Chief executive Greg Fitzgerald said: "Housebuilding delivered a significant improvement in margin in H1 and we expect this to continue, whilst Vistry Partnerships is firmly on track to deliver more than £1bn of revenue in FY 22 and a margin in excess of 10%, driven by the accelerated growth of its higher margin mixed tenure revenues.

"The group ended the period with £31.6m net cash representing nearly £400m of cash inflow over the last 12 months, reflecting our financial performance and balance sheet strength. Thanks to this performance and our ongoing confidence in the business and market outlook, the board is delighted to announce a 20p per share dividend in respect of the first half and looking forwards intends to maintain a two times dividend cover, while committing to returning excess capital to shareholders."

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