Vistry expects to make around £165 million in adjusted pre-tax profit this year, stripping out roughly £470 million of charges tied to a sweeping overhaul of the business.
The housebuilder, which specialises in "mixed-tenure" schemes that blend affordable homes for housing associations and councils with properties sold on the open market, set out the plan alongside a bruising set of half-year results.
It fell to an adjusted pre-tax loss of £83.3 million for the six months to 30 June, against an £80.6 million profit a year earlier.
The reported loss was far heavier at £661.3 million, dragged down by a £475 million writedown of goodwill and a further £73 million set aside for building-safety repairs.
The damage stems largely from a strategic review by Adam Daniels, who took over as chief executive in April.
He has concluded that Vistry grew too fast, spread itself too thinly and let discipline slip, and will now make it deliberately smaller.
Completions will be cut to around 12,000 homes a year over the medium term, down from more than 16,000, with the regional network shrinking from 25 areas to 12.
Most strikingly, Vistry will pull out of open-market sales in the south-east of England altogether, switching those sites to homes pre-sold to partners.
The retreat reflects a summer slump in demand, with buyer confidence knocked by the Middle East conflict and stubborn affordability pressures dragging the open-market sales rate down to 0.3 reservations per outlet each week.
Revenue slipped 9% to £1.7 billion as completions fell 8% to 6,304 homes.
Net debt climbed to £468.8 million from £293.1 million a year earlier.
There was better news on funding, with Vistry named a strategic partner under the government's £39 billion affordable homes programme and handed a £350 million grant, the largest in the first wave, to build more than 3,000 homes.
Daniels said the group would not need to raise fresh equity, and that its banks had waived covenant tests for the rest of this year and into 2027.
A new finance chief is expected to be named shortly, replacing Tim Lawlor, who is leaving for logistics firm Culina Group.
