Bovis chief’s £2m punt on rebuilding firm’s reputation

New Bovis Homes boss Greg Fitzgerald made a £2 million bet on his ability to turn around the struggling housebuilder today.

Filings showed Fitzgerald — who was appointed in April after previous chief executive David Ritchie was ousted in January — snapped up 215,500 shares at 920p each.

The former Galliford Try chief executive’s first job is to stabilise the business, which faced a turbulent spell of profit warnings last year amid “bribes” to homebuyers to move into unfinished homes so that the company could hit City profit targets.

He is working on a strategic review of the company which is due to be published in early September.

In the meantime, Bovis has slowed down the pace of its housebuilding to concentrate on improving the business, which will also hit profits over the current year.

Its woes put Bovis in the takeover spotlight earlier this year with opportunistic merger bids from both Galliford Try and Redrow Homes. Bovis shares edged 2p higher to 920.5p today.