Last updated 25 March 2021
Vistry Group Plc
Vistry Group is a leading quoted housebuilder with a long land bank and a strong market position in the south of England. The group was formerly known as Bovis, which was founded in 1885 and Bovis Homes was floated in 1997. The company changed its name to Vistry after buying the partnerships business at Galliford Try for £1.1 billion.
Vistry employs more than 500 staff across England and Wales, with its headquarters at West Malling in Kent, and regional offices in Basingstoke, Cheltenham, Coleshill, Exeter, Milton Keynes and Stafford. Now one of the UK’s top five housebuilders, Vistry turns over £1.8 billion a year and is a member of the FTSE 250 index.
Financials
In the 2020 calendar year, reported revenue at Vistry surged 60% to £1,811.7 million (2019: £1,130.8 million) but profitability suffered.
Reported pre-tax profits crashed 43% to £98.7 million (2019: £174.7 million). At an operating level, profits dropped to £91.7 million (2019: £179.7 million).
To view the financials for Vistry Group, visit Companies House and use Company ID 00306718.
Operations
Vistry has its headquarters at West Malling in Kent and has two divisions.
Housebuilding
The housebuilding division operates form 13 regions across England covering: Yorkshire, Mercia, East Midlands, West Midlands, Cotswolds, Northern Home Counties, Eastern, Kent, South East, Thames Valley, Southern, Western and the South West.
In 2020, completions at the housebuilding operation rose to 4,652 units (2019: 3,867 units) at an average selling price of £302,000. These sales produced adjusted revenue of £1,312 million (2019: £1,821 million) and an operating profit of £139.4 million (2019: £207.1 million).
After buying 6,281 plots across 31 developments in 2020, the housebuilding division had a landbank of 40,218 plots (2019 proforma: 40,135).
Partnerships
This division has offices in Bristol, Coleshill, Exeter, Enderby, Stratford in east London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Southampton, Warrington and Glasshaughton in West Yorkshire. Bovis had started its own partnerships operation before the Galliford Try acquisition. This was launched in February 2019 and secured a place on the Homes & Communities Agency’s £4 billion affordable homes framework on lot 1 in England (Project ID 11304236).
In 2020, the Partnerships delivered a 28% increase in completions with 1,479 units sold (2019 proforma: 1,158 units), which produced adjusted revenue of £728.3 million and an operating profit of £48.6 million.
This division also secured 2,371 plots on 11 sites for mixed tenure development in 2020.
Glenigan Data
In the 2020 calendar year, the combined group submitted 31 detailed planning applications (2019: 65 applications) to build a total of 5,231 units (2019: 7,649 units). This total was ranked Vistry in seventh place in Glenigan’s ranking of the leading housebuilders by planning activity (2019: Ninth)
In 2020, Vistry’s partnerships division won £219 million-worth of construction contracts for external clients (2019: £321.7 million) and was ranked in 38th position in Glenigan’s annual ranking of the construction industry’s top 50 contractors (2019: 36th)
Conclusion: Big targets …
Despite the challenges offered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Vistry enjoyed a bumper 2020 in terms of revenue but profitability suffered and going forward indicators suggest volumes may be lower.
The newly expanded Vistry Group is aiming to deliver 14,000 homes a year through its housebuilding and partnerships operations, which – even through the combination of Bovis and Linden – is a big leap on the completions delivered in 2020.
To achieve this, Vistry would need to bring more units through the planning system and Glenigan’s research shows that the number of units in the planning pipeline shrank by 46% in 2020.
The group is looking to build larger developments and the average planning application submitted in 2020 contained 169 units (2019: 118 units), while Vistry is now remains wholly focused on housing with no plans for apartments (2019: 94% housing/6% flats).
Glenigan’s data also shows that the construction order book shrank by 32%, which is understandable given the challenges to the industry and the wider economy posed by the pandemic. While housing developments are growing in terms of number of units, Vistry is taking on smaller contracts and the average job won in 2020 was valued by Glenigan at £13.7 million (2019: £26.8 million).
The group’s own data for forward orders, shows total housebuilding sales of £1.4 billion at March 2021 with £343 million-worth of forward orders at the partnerships’ division.
The implications of new rules on cladding and remedial work on old projects is expected to cost up to £25.0 million with £11.0 million booked in the 2020 accounts, which also included exceptional restructuring costs of £20.0 million (2019: £13.6 million).
However, despite the fall in profits, Vistry entered 2020 with net debts of £136.3 million and ended with year with net cash of £38.0 million
There is a clear regional focus, which eschews Scotland with the group’s operations focused mainly on the Midlands and southern England with some exposure in the North West and North East, which has grown with the Galliford Try acquisition and a Vistry Partnerships office in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Along with its peers, Vistry benefitted from the short-term extension of Help to Buy and the stamp duty holiday, which supported the housing market during the worst of the pandemic. The end of both will have some impact as will the end of the furlough scheme but for Vistry the merger will continue to make all the more sense going forward.
Winning work with Vistry Group
Vistry aims to use local labour, material suppliers and other resources where possible. The group seeks to enhance the environment where it builds, use land efficiently and protect biodiversity. It puts an emphasis on sustainable development across all its operations from land identification to after-sales services and the running of its offices.
The company has a corporate social responsibility policy and framework managed by a group executive committee. It looks at proposals from a range of viewpoints and it delivers consistent standards through regional disciplines and site teams.
In 2017, Bovis had opened a national training centre in Reading to improve engagement with its supply chain. Details on the supply chain can be found here. Vistry Partnerships works with the Supply Chain Sustainability School and details can be found here.
The group’s website has policy documents on ethical codes; business continuity policy; anti-money laundering; anti-bribery and corruption; anti-fraud; whistle blowing and equal opportunities.
Key Procurement Contacts at Vistry Group:
Head of Vistry Group Procurement – Andy Fysh
Tel: 01732-280400
Land director at Vistry Partnerships – Nick Hodgson
Tel: 020-8221-5000
Nick.hodgson@vistrypartnerships.co.uk
Supply chain manager at Vistry Partnerships – Simon Bell
Tel: 0191-227-1000
Simon.bell@vistrypartnerships.co.uk