Vistry Share Price Rallied 6.88% on Upbeat Full-Year 2023 Results

The Vistry Group PLC (LON: VTY) share price rallied 6.88% after releasing its full-year results for the year ended 31 December 2023. The company has secured its position as the UK’s leading partnerships business after successfully integrating Countryside Partnerships. 

The home-building company has made impressive progress in executing its strategy to focus entirely on a high-growth, capital-light partnerships model, which targets a 40% ROCE over the medium term. 

The robustness of the company’s unique partnerships model was evidenced last year when it delivered 16,118 new homes, marking a 5.4% decline on last year’s proforma. When excluding its former housebuilding business, the partnership's business delivered annualised revenue growth and maintained an ROCE of about 40%. 

In 2023, 67% of the total completions were from the local authority, registered providers, and private rented sector, collectively referred to as Partner Funded sales, while 33% were from open market sales. 

The progress in transitioning a previous Housebuilding land reserve is upbeat, with continued activity in acquiring land throughout 2023. The acquisition of 13,067 plots, an increase from 8,547 in 2022, underscores the commitment to achieving growth goals and medium-term objectives. 

Additionally, the Group has notably enhanced its timber frame production capacity, now producing approximately 8,000 units. There is also an anticipation of receiving a 5-star HBF Customer Satisfaction award for the fifth year in 2024, marking a significant achievement in maintaining high customer satisfaction standards.   

The company achieved an adjusted operating income of £487.9 million in the current year, compared to £451.1 million in the previous year, achieving an operating profit margin of 12.1%, down from 14.5% last year.

As of December 31, 2023, the group's net debt stood at £88.8 million, transitioning from a net cash position of £118.2 million the year before while maintaining a robust balance sheet. 

The return on capital employed (ROCE) for this period was 21.3%, a decrease from 25.0% in the prior year. This reduction is attributed to increased capital investment and a downturn in the volume of transactions within the traditional housebuilding segment, driven by challenging market dynamics.

The company successfully executed a £55 million ordinary share repurchase initiative in February 2024.

Vistry share price. 

The Vistry share price rallied 6.88% to trade at 1193.8p from Wednesday’s closing price of 1117.0p.