UK housebuilder Vistry said on Monday that it will cut 200 jobs as part of its shift in focus to social housing.
The company announced last month that it was revising its strategy to concentrate on its Partnerships business, which works with the public sector and housing associations to build affordable homes.
It came after challenging conditions in the private housing market while demand from social housing providers and local authorities remained strong.
A restructuring of the business, integrating Partnerships and Housebuilding, will reduce the number of regional Vistry units from 32 to 27 and will lead to around 200 redundancies. The company anticipates annual cost savings of approximately £25m.
In a trading update for the third quarter, Vistry said that high interest rates and household cost of living pressures had resulted in a slowdown in open market private sales.
It added that “productive discussions” in recent weeks with key supply chain partners had secured cost reductions for all existing and future contracts.
Vistry maintained its forecast of adjusted profit before tax of £450m for the full year, excluding the impact of transitioning the Housebuilding business to Partnerships.
Implementing the new strategy is expected to cost about £40m, which would reduce adjusted pre-tax profit to £410m.
