Britain’s star builder hits trouble

The market reaction has been unsparing. When Vistry, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, issued its second profit warning in a month on November 8th, its shares plunged again. The firm’s market capitalisation has fallen by about £2.4bn ($3.1bn), or around half its value, from its peak in September. Vistry, which was formerly known as Bovis Homes, is blaming bad management and a poor culture at a single legacy division for most of the £165m-worth of unexpected cost overruns. But its travails have cast a shadow not just on the construction industry’s star performer but also on the housebuilding ambitions of the new Labour government.