Vistry takes another £50m hit on build cost blunders

Grant Prior 4 months ago
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Vistry has issued another £50m profit warning after discovering more under-estimated build costs at its southern division.

The house builder issued a £115m profit warning last month after problems first came to light on nine schemes in the region.

Vistry launched a review across the whole business and issued another Stock Exchange statement this morning.

It has found more issues in the division across 18 sites which will impact profits by a further £50m over the next three years bringing the total impact to £165m.

But Vistry said no similar problems were found at other divisions with the issues contained at the former southern house building business.

It said: “The scope of the review has primarily focused on the cost reporting process, culture and management in the South Division, and also includes a wider review across the Group to ascertain if similar issues to those identified in the South Division existed in other parts of the business.”

The report blamed the region’s problems on “insufficient management capability, non-compliant commercial forecasting processes and poor divisional culture.”

Vistry said: “The South Division was led by a management team from the former Housebuilding business and the Managing Directors of all four regions within the South Division were from the Group’s former Housebuilding business. 

“None of the Group’s other divisions are managed exclusively by former Housebuilding management.  The independent review has highlighted the pressure being felt from organisational change as a fundamental driver underlying the issues in the South Division.”

Vistry said some management has “stepped away from the business” while culture and whistle blowing processes have been improved.

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