The Sunday Telegraph finance editor doesnt like the idea of Mears anymore and, several weeks ago, suggested selling them -@128. Since then, they have been up to 138 and are now around the 130 mark. Since the Telegraph suggestion Fidelity Investment have stached away a 3.31% stake - as have others.All this for a share that was languishing, with others, at 58p just a wee while ago. NOW. How much are they worth? REALLY WORTH. To assess their ability to stay in business one only has to look at the average Council Executive. Reared on HIGH SALARIES and SMALL WORKLOADS their main aim is off load as much responsibilty as possible commensurate with spending extended time on the golf course and at sensible restaurants. Remember High Executives of Councils are not there with the intention of actually working themselves. Mears, therefore, is a ready made OUT for this idle,lazy band of brothers.A responsible, trustworthy, diligent and patently HONEST outfit who will assume the responsibility and afford our overloaded executive the ability to goof off for another lunch/game.YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE.Would anyone like to guess if I own a restaurant?

Interim Management Statement.

Mears has today brought forward the release of its Interim Management Statement ("IMS") for the period from 1 July 2011 to date.

Key Highlights since 1 July 2011:

The Group is continuing to experience solid trading within the activities of both its core divisions of Social Housing and Care.

Group order book of 2.7 billion with secured revenues of 95% of current consensus forecast revenues for 2011, 85% for 2012 and 70% for 2013.

New contracts awarded and announced today in respect of the Group's Social Housing Division to the value of 109 million (180 million including extensions). This increases the value of social housing new contracts awarded in the last eight months to 350 million (423 million including extensions). The Group continues to achieve high new tender conversion rates of 47% and 62% in Social Housing and Care respectively

Group bid pipeline remains in excess of 3.0 billion, and with an immediate bidding opportunity of 1.6 billion, continues to underpin the Board's confidence in the future.

The Government announced their decision on the 31 October 2011 to halve the solar Photovoltaic (PV) Feed-in Tariff (FIT) subsidy from 12 December 2011, which came as a surprise to many participants in the PV space. Since the decision to substantially reduce the PV FIT, and more importantly to bring forward the effective date, the Board has been evaluating the business case for PV and conclude that the prudent course of action is to cease these activities immediately, as the commercial attractions that led us to explore the PV space, in the short term, no longer exist. As a direct result, Operating Profit is likely to fall short of our previous expectations in the region of 2.8 million for the current year. In addition we believe it appropriate to write-off costs relating to the site set-up, system design and installation amounting to approximately 2.0 million which are now considered irrecoverable. The latter amount will be treated as a non-recurring item and excluded from the Group's normalised earnings calculations in the full year results.

In September the Group completed a refinancing of its banking facilities and signed a new 120 million unsecured facility maturing in July 2016. This new arrangement replaces the previous 85 million secured facility and includes lower debt pricing and higher operational flexibility.

The Group completed the acquisition of the Supported Living division of Choices Care Community Services Limited ('Choices') as the first step in our strategy to develop a broader care offering to our clients. The period since acquisition has proceeded well and the Group anticipates the acquisition being earnings enhancing for the year ending 31 December 2012.

Mears has signed a strategic partnering arrangement with the Tunstall Group. The partnership has already secured a contract with Birmingham Council, which has a large programme to roll out telecare and telehealth systems across the City. The partnership is well placed to benefit further from these opportunities.

very disappointed with this....I've sold out and gone in on CKSN as a recovery play.

Will keep any eye on MER and may come back in in the new year.
I think it's only a temporaryset-back but can onlyt see the sp teading water over the next few months! (imho)
Think in a year or two the sp will be back at 3

INVESCO > 5%

Heronbridge > 4%

Back on the watchlist.

Excellent candle , volume and RSI - mind the gap !

Only me then - just close half @240.

Pre-Close Trading Update.

Mears can confirm that trading and cash for the year ended 31 December 2011 was in line with management expectations.

New contract successes have increased the Group's order book to £2.8 billion providing forward visibility of consensus forecast revenues of 93% for 2012 and 78% for 2013. Our bid pipeline remains robust at in excess of £3.0 billion with the immediate bidding opportunity for further contracts due to start over the course of 2012 at £1.1 billion.

The Group will be announcing its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2011 on Tuesday, 20 March 2011.

Gap closed (ish)

Final Results.

Summary of Operations and Outlook

Financial:
· Excellent year of new contract bidding. Awards in excess of £700m with conversion rate of 45%
· Record revenue of £589.0m (2010: £523.9m), growth of 12%
· Profit to cash conversion at 91% (2010: 97%).
· Strong balance sheet with average net debt £58.5m (2010: £48.5m), and net debt at 31 December of £13.4m (2010: £12.2m)
· Bank facility for the Group of £120m committed until July 2016.
· Progressive dividend policy, dividend increasing in line with earnings by 11% to 7.50p per share (2010: 6.75p).

Social Housing Division:
· Record revenue of £415.0m (2010: £379.4m), growth of 9%.
· Growth in core maintenance revenue, up 21% including organic growth of 14%
· Continuing high levels of customer satisfaction
· Operating margin remains at market leading levels of 5.8% (2010: 6.0%)

Care Division:
· Revenue increased by 8% to £108.5m (2010: £100.4m)
· Operating margin increased to 8.0% (2010: 7.5%).
· Successful integration of earnings enhancing Supported Living acquisition
· Care operation maintained very strong regulatory compliance

Outlook:
· Significant pipeline of new bidding opportunities over the next 12 months
· Visibility of 94% of consensus forecast revenue for 2012 and 80% for 2013.
· Ageing demographics and current fiscal challenges provide significant opportunities for Mears
· Targeting acquisitions in both core growth markets
· Continued roll-out of proprietary care IT system.

Investec reiterates it's Buy TP 283p

Collins Stewart reiterates it's Buy TP 325p

Peel Hunt reiterates it's Buy TP 275p

Panmure Gordon reiterates it's Hold TP 250p

Jefferies International reiterates it's Buy TP 310p

N+1 Brewin reiterates it's Add TP 275p

Espirito Santo Execution Noble reiterates Neutral TP 260p

RNS Number : 9248Z

Mears Group PLC

23 March 2012

23 March 2012

Mears Group PLC

("Mears" or the "Company")

Notification of Transactions of Directors/Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibility and Connected Persons in accordance with DTR 3.1.2 R

The Company was notified on 22 March 2012 that Robert (Bob) Holt, Chairman of Mears, had exercised share options over 1,500,000 ordinary shares of one pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") on 22 March 2012.

Exercise of options under Mears Group PLC Special Incentive Plan ("SIP"):


Number of Ordinary Exercise price
Shares over which per Ordinary
Date of grant options were exercised Share (pence)
28 September 2009 1,500,000 1

Interim Management Statement

97% visibility of consensus forecast revenues for 2012 and

80% visibility for 2013

Mears today releases its Interim Management Statement ("IMS") for the period from 1 January 2012 to date.

Mears continues to deliver solid trading across all divisions in line with management expectations.

We have now achieved 100% visibility of forecast consensus revenues in Social Housing for the current year. For the Group as a whole, we have visibility of 97% of consensus forecast revenues for the current year and have in excess of 80% visibility of Group forecast consensus revenues for 2013. The order book currently stands at GBP2.8 billion and the bid pipeline remains in excess of GBP3.0 billion with the immediate bidding opportunity for new contracts due to start on or before April 2013 at approximately GBP2.0 billion.

Social Housing

Since 1 January 2012, we have seen the most intense period of new contract mobilisation in the Group's history with the commencement of eight new social housing contracts. These new contracts have started well, and as stated in the March preliminary announcement, these will generate additional costs in the early mobilisation phase, which are all expensed in the period. The overall strength of our social housing business means that despite these costs and the effect of the final wind-down of the Decent Homes works, we still anticipate a solid social housing operating margin.

Care and Support

The division has successfully mobilised a number of new contracts during the period since 1 January 2012. A change in the sales mix as we deliver more acute services provides an opportunity to strengthen and enhance our operating profit margin. While we remain selective with new contract bidding, we see a number of opportunities which fit our bidding criteria and which can provide further opportunities for growth. We remain mindful of getting the right balance between growing our top line whilst at all times protecting our operating margin

Other Services

Mears' Other Services accounted for less than 4% of Group operating profit in 2011 and predominantly comprises our Mechanical & Electrical operation. Trading within the division continues to encounter challenging conditions with the trading environment remaining highly competitive. We do not anticipate a significant profit contribution from this division in the current year.

Financial position

Mears continues to benefit from a strong balance sheet. The efficiency with which the Group manages working capital has always been a cornerstone of our business, which is of particular importance during the current period of strong organic growth.

Commenting, David Miles, Chief Executive, Mears Group, said:

"I am delighted at the progress made by the Group in recent months. We have demonstrated our ability to embrace change and adapt to the challenges that the current economic environment continues to present. Mears' positive momentum positions us well to benefit from an active contract bidding market. I remain confident in the prospects for the future growth of the Group.

"Our Social Housing business has long been recognised as the market leader in terms of operational performance and tenant satisfaction. Our differentiated offering focussed on quality of service is providing now, more than ever, opportunities to further reinforce our position as the partner of choice for customers seeking solutions to important and significant underlying needs.

"I am proud of our achievements in the care sector and our ability to offer vulnerable people high quality services. Moreover, we are achieving strong margins in what remains a complex politically-led market. We continue to seek acquisitions to broaden our care offerings where appropriate. The well documented challenges in the care market are likely to accelerate in 2012, and Mears continues to be at the forefront of seeking pragmatic solutions to these challenges and I remain very positive of our future role in the care market. It is disappointing that the Social Care white paper has once again been delayed. It would appear that the challenge for the long term funding of Care is unlikely to now be addressed in legislation before the back end of 2013. The political debate cannot be one of simply mindlessly reducing spend and ignoring new sources of funding, but rather one which seeks to deliver long term joined-up good value services to an increasingly important section of society."

Ends.

An good interview with David Miles about the results and includes the results presentation - Link to interview

Interim Management Statement

Canaccord Genuity Buy 369.25 440.00 440.00 Reiterates

Liberum Capital Buy 369.25 420.00 420.00 Reiterates

Investec Buy 369.25 400.00 400.00 Reiterates

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Neutral 369.25 350.00 350.00 Retains

AGM Statement

Mears issued its Interim Management Statement on 14 May 2013. I am pleased to announce that the positive trends referred to in the May statement are continuing and are summarised as follows:

· Mears continues to deliver solid trading across both core divisions in line with management expectations.

· Mears has secured new contract awards since 1 January 2013 of circa £125 million. In addition the Group has experienced strong spends from its existing customer base and has achieved 95% visibility of the £915m consensus revenue forecast for 2013 and 80% visibility of the £960m consensus revenue forecast for 2014. The order book stands at £3.8 billion and the bid pipeline remains at £3.0 billion.

· Following the acquisition of Morrison Facilities Services Limited, the Group has reached an advanced stage in the restructuring of the senior operational management and social housing support functions. The integration is substantially complete. We anticipate that the Morrison operations will deliver a break-even result for the half-year before the exceptional cost of integration. The speed of this turnaround is ahead of our original expectation.

· Mears continues to benefit from a strong balance sheet.

Half Yearly Report

Financial:
· Revenue increased by 49%.
· EBITA to cash conversion at 100% (2012: 100%) for the rolling 12 month period to June 2013.
· Strong Balance sheet.

Social Housing Division:
· Revenues grew by 76%, including strong organic growth of 17% to £378.9m (£215.0m).
· Operating margin delivered at 3.7% - a blend of a Mears margin at 5.6% (2012: 5.0%) and Morrison at break-even.

Care Division:
· Revenue increased by 8% to £60.5m (2012: £56.1m) as a result of the acquisition of ILS.
· Operating margin maintained at 8.1% (2012: 8.1%).
· Acquisition of ILS enhances our higher acuity care offering.

Group Outlook:
· Order book of £3.8 billion (2012: £2.7 billion). Solid pipeline of new opportunities.
· Full visibility of consensus forecast revenue for 2013 and in excess of 85% for 2014.
· Two new infill acquisitions to develop further our housing management offering.

Canaccord Genuity Buy 420.13 430.25 440.00 490.00 Reiterates

Investec Buy 417.63 400.00 440.00 Reiterates

Liberum Capital Buy 416.13 413.00 420.00 485.00 Reiterates

Interim Management Statement

Proposed Disposal of M&E Division