ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV

Vistry is still one of the industry’s slowest paying housebuilders despite the firm saying it will have more than doubled pre-tax profit when it publishes its 2021 results next month.

Latest government data compiled by Build UK showed the firm took an average of 44 days to settle its invoices, the same amount of time as when the figures were last reported in July.

It was also the housebuilder with the largest share of invoices not paid within agreed terms, at 35%, while 15% of its invoices were still not settled after 60 days.

In a trading update last month, Vistry said pre-tax profit for 2021 will be around £345m compared to £144m in 2020. It is due to publish its annual figures on 2 March.

Meanwhile, Skanska, Engie and Bam Nuttall were among the slowest paying contractors despite seeing marginal improvements since last summer.

Engie was the slowest with an average time to pay invoices of 42 days, followed by Bam Nuttall on 41 days and Graham on 40 days.

Skanska took an average of 39 days to pay invoices, while the firm’s ground engineering division Cementation Skanska took an average of 44 days to make payments and its M&E firm Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil took 48 days.

M&E specialist SES topped the list as the slowest paying firm across all construction sectors, with an average time of 76 days. 

TClarke, which also specialises in M&E, took an average of 60 days, while Rolls-Royce and Lidl were the slowest paying clients with average payment times of 73 days and 45 days respectively.

Sir Robert McAlpine, which was the joint fastest paying contractor alongside Vinci with an average time of 24 days in July last year, has seen its pace slip to 30 days.

But the figures showed that overall payment times are continuing to improve, with Build UK members now reporting an average of 32 days to pay invoices. This is down from 34 days last July and from 45 days when the group first started publishing the information in July 2018.

Half of members now pay within 30 days, while 95% of invoices are paid within 60 days. The percentage of invoices paid within agreed terms now stands at 82%, compared to just 61% in July 2018.

Amey was the fastest paying contractor and the fastest paying of all firms listed, with an average time to settle invoices of 14 days. ISG was the second fastest contractor at 15 days, while Costain was third on 21 days.

IM Properties was the fastest paying client with an average of 15 days, followed by British Land on 17 days, Landsec  on 20 days and Places for People on 21 days.

See Build UK’s rankings below.