UK housebuilder Vistry shares plummet as analysts slam business plan

(Reuters) - Shares in Vistry Group fell more than 7% on Wednesday, scoring their biggest three-day drop since March 2020, as broker downgrades hit the $3.3 billion UK housebuilder in markets stressed by the rapid surge in bond yields.

UBS cut the stock to sell from neutral on Wednesday, saying its was cautious about the company's over-ambitious plans.

"If it's too good to be true, it probably is: cut to Sell," wrote analysts at the Swiss bank led by Gregor Kuglitsch.

"We are cautious about the recently presented business plan which requires near record volumes delivered for a single UK housebuilder and are cautious about relatively high leverage and fair value adjustments," they added.

Vistry has lost 15% of its value in the last three days, as a slowdown in the UK housing sector intensifies, erasing the gains it made since early September when it announced the merger of its Partnerships and Housebuilding operations.

On Wednesday it was the biggest faller on the STOXX Europe 600 index. The stock is up around 23% so far in 2023.

On Tuesday, Jefferies downgraded Vistry Group to hold from buy, citing doubts over its business model.

"The evolution to a full Partnership model looks good as a spreadsheet exercise. However in practice the achievement of targeted volumes & margins is not without risk," wrote Jefferies analyst Glynis Johnson.

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, editing by Alun John)