UK homebuilder Vistry to buy back shares worth $171 mln, posts HY profit rise
HY adjusted pre-tax profit 186.2 mln pounds, revenue up 11%
Latest buyback includes special distribution of 75 mln stg
Group forward sales position up 19% year-on-year
Adds analysts' comment in paragraph 6, outlook in paragraph 7
By Aby Jose Koilparambil
Sept 5 (Reuters) -British homebuilder Vistry VTYV.L will buy back shares worth 130 million pounds ($171 million), it said on Thursday, after posting a 7% rise in half-year earnings helped by resilient demand for its affordable homes.
An interest rate cut by the Bank of England in August, the first in more than four years, may signal relief for struggling builders and homebuyers, while the new Labour government's push for aggressive planning reforms also boosted sentiment.
The company, which makes most sales from partnerships with local authorities, housing associations and government providers, said it has now announced or returned 285 million pounds of the targeted 1 billion in shareholder returns over three years since its strategic update 12 months ago.
On Thursday the group announced a further ordinary distribution through a 55 million pound share buyback based on its first-half performance, and a special distribution of 75 million pounds, also through a buyback.
Its shares were up 3.6% at 1,368 pence by 0744 GMT.
Vistry's forward sales position - a key industry metric which gauges near-term demand - totalled 5.1 billion pounds, up 19% year-on-year.
"The group looks well aligned with the direction of the new government's housing policies and ambitions, and momentum should continue to be positive for the group to meet its medium-term targets," Investec analysts said in a note.
The Kings Hill, UK-headquartered company, the largest British housebuilder by output, retained its annual homebuild target of more than 18,000 units and its forecast of full-year profit above last year.
Vistry posted adjusted pre-tax profit of 186.2 million pounds for the six months ended June 30, compared with 174 million pounds a year ago, while revenue jumped 11%.
Its FTSE 100 .FTSE peers Persimmon PSN.L and Taylor Wimpey TW.L had sounded more optimistic, having forecast annual housebuilding numbers towards the upper end of their guidance range.
($1 = 0.7606 pounds)
Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Eileen Soreng and Jan Harvey
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