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?

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

Looking at a new high @441.50p.

Trading Statement in January.

Pre-Close Trading Update

Trading Statement
Mears anticipates reporting results for the full year to 31 December 2013 in line with management expectations, coupled with strong cash performance.

The current order book stands at £3.8 billion and the bid pipeline remains at £3.0 billion. The Group has 90% visibility of consensus revenue forecast for 2014 from continuing operations of £911 million.

Integration of Morrison Facilities Services Limited ("Morrison")

Mears acquired Morrison in November 2012 and has previously reported that the speed of turnaround has exceeded management expectations and this continues. The integration of the support service functions was completed in the first half year and the migration to the Mears IT systems is substantially complete. Morrison has delivered a positive contribution in the year. The key focus is now at an individual contract level to maintain the improved service delivery whilst continuing to resolve the remaining financial challenges.

Disposal of Mechanical and Electrical division ("Haydon")

Mears completed the disposal of Haydon in November 2013. The disposal has allowed the Board to focus fully upon its core and growing Social Housing and Care businesses. The division continued to generate losses up to its disposal which will be shown under Discontinued Activities in the full-year results.

Developing the Care market - Wiltshire County Council ('Wiltshire')

As previously announced, the award by Wiltshire of an innovative partnering contract to Mears represented our most important milestone since entering into Care and an important development in the Domiciliary Care market in the UK. In a move away from traditional "task and time" based contracts, Mears will be paid by results, which pays providers on meeting desired outcomes that have been agreed directly with service users. That Mears was awarded this landmark contract demonstrates Mears' leading position in the Domiciliary Care market. The contract, which mobilised in September 2013, has started positively.

While still early days, there are indications now that a number of other Local Authorities are looking to follow the lead of Wiltshire. It will be particularly beneficial to Mears that Wiltshire is a strong reference site to support the Group securing other similar opportunities.

ILS Group Limited ('ILS')

In April 2013, Mears announced the acquisition of ILS. One of the principal attractions of ILS was its greater proportion of work providing higher acuity services and which is now being delivered through the Mears Nurseplus brand. It is pleasing to report that we have continued to achieve strong growth in this area.

Financial position

Mears continues to benefit from a strong balance sheet. The efficiency with which the Group manages working capital continues to be a cornerstone of the business as evidenced by net debt being less than management expectations as at 31 December 2013. The Group has extended its existing revolving credit facility of £120 million by a further 2 years to July 2018.



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

"I am delighted with the progress Mears has made in 2013. Revenue visibility, order book and the bid pipeline all remain strong.

"The UK Care market is going through a period of significant change and I am proud of the robust business we have established. Mears will continue to be at the forefront of change in the sector in 2014 and beyond.

"With Mears now focussed solely on Social Housing and Domiciliary Care, I am delighted to report that we continue to achieve high levels of service delivery and customer satisfaction. The quality of our service delivery continues to be our key differentiator and underpins our success in bidding new contracts in both of our core growth sectors."


The Group will be announcing its results for the year ended 31 December 2013 on 18 March 2014.


-ENDS-

Investec Add 478.38 479.25 440.00 495.00 Downgrades

Liberum Capital Buy 479.63 478.00 - 528.00 Reiterates