Shares of Vistry Group PLC (LON: VTY) surged 4.73% after the British homebuilding company announced that it will pay a small final dividend for 2020 after recording strong revenues in the second half of the year.
The home building company’s trading update revealed that it was able to clear all its debts and it expects profits for the full year to be approximately £140 million. The company expects 2021 profits to be around £310 million if market conditions remain stable.
The group was able to achieve a net cash position of £38 million as of December 31, 2020, as compared to a net debt position of £357.3 million as of June 30, 2020.
Vistry was encouraged by the strength of the market in 2020 and the demand levels during the second national lockdown in November were still elevated. The third national lockdown, which started recently had no material impact on demand, according to the company.
Greg Fitzgerald, Vistry’s CEO, said: “We have seen strong demand for our homes during 2020 with the Group’s private sales rate per outlet per week increasing by 15% in the second half to 0.62 (H2 19: 0.54). Encouragingly, customers continued to reserve homes during the second national lockdown in November, and throughout December, with our underlying sales rate up c. 20% in the last 6 weeks of the year compared to the prior year equivalent period.”
The company also reported that pricing was firm throughout the year and that there was a modest increase in underlying prices.
Vistry share price
Vistry shares today spiked 4.73% higher to trade at 995p having rallied from Monday’s closing price of 950p.