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?

weird or what? i didnt even know results were due this week when i made the above post about tasting pie this week.
10/03/09 Record Preliminary Results( rns)
10/03/09 Mears ups dividend after record result(Mon AM)
11/03/09 Broker News- Mears upgraded to add from hold at... (Mon AM )
it seems i must be batting on a sticky wicket here.
note to self. i'm clearly going to be wrong on this one, dont swim against the tide.
not going to be stubborn here, whether it is the tide of news and sentiment or tide of price. its nice when they all flow together but so often they dont. so i will go with tide of PRICE. another note to self. be careful. be patient.(i'm still short) until Price or money management tells me to be other than short. its turning into a volatile beeste recently.its very oversold and could easily bounce back to the 270/275 level suggested by the broker.
might not. anyone buying here and seeing it move up to that level may find it difficult to unbelieve and sell on a subsequent fall.those are the long term investors who will still be holding when and if the fall out occurs.it may never happen. if this then that etc. anyway for the moment i hold short but could be wrong so have a stop loss in place to protect me.
as always this is all just my opinion.
good luck
regards
jkd

crikey!
time for a no loss stop loss. ill be very disappointed if it gets hit, could happen.
time to stop watching methinks.
regards
jkd

i've been stopped out of half my holding today. still holding the balance. thank goodness for stop losses. at least i've managed to bank some profit.
regards
jkd

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=3596722

i've been stopped out of my remaining holding today, now flat.
regards
jkd

Mears announces 70m new contract wins.

Mears wins 200m Brighton housing contract
Business Financial Newswire
Support services group Mears has won a ten-year 200m contract from Brighton & Hove City Council to provide housing stock upgrades, repairs and maintenance services.

CEO Bob Holt said, 'I believe this to be one of the largest contracts of its kind awarded in the UK ever and represents a significant move to a long-term partnership for Brighton & Hove.'

Mears has won contracts worth a total of 400m since April and has a strong pipeline of bids, said Holt.

i'm getting ready to short.
regards
jkd

Results well received!

Interim management Statement.

Trading update

Mears has continued to experience strong trading across all divisions since announcing the interim results in August 2009. The forecast full year results are in line with management's expectations.

The Group has announced new contract awards in excess of 450m since the annual results were published on 10 March 2009 and we continue to build on this strong performance with an order book standing at over 1.7bn. The bid pipeline is strong and we are currently at advanced stages of negotiating further significant opportunities. We anticipate reporting a record year for growth in our order book.

The demand for our services has never been stronger. Our two growth markets Social Housing and Domiciliary Care, which account for approaching 90% of Group revenues, are defensive markets where spend is largely non discretionary and afford us substantial immunity from bad debts. Moreover as a result of our quality partnership relationships with first class public sector customers, we have not experienced any work delays from our public sector customers.

New Contracts.

Mears is pleased to announce the award of new contracts across all three
operating divisions.


The awards have an initial value of GBP113 million and are subject to contract
extensions taking the total worth to in excess of GBP200 million. This takes the
aggregate total of new contracts awarded in the nine months since Mears
announced its preliminary results to in excess of GBP550 million with a
potential worth in excess of GBP650 million, subject to contract extensions,
which would result in a record year for the Group in terms of both new contract
awards and order book.

bought in this morning...looks good

Offer for Supporta plc

Summary of the Offer

The boards of Mears and Supporta are today pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended offer by Mears to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Supporta.
The Offer will be on the basis of 0.115 New Mears Shares for each Supporta Share.
The Offer values the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Supporta at approximately 27.2 million and each Supporta Share at 31 pence (based on the Closing Price of 269.5 pence per Mears Share on 17 December 2009), representing a premium of 55 per cent. to the Closing Price of 20 pence per Supporta Share on 28 October 2009 (being the last business day prior to the commencement of the Offer Period).
If the Offer is declared unconditional in all respects, Mears will issue up to 10,088,670 New Mears Shares giving Supporta Shareholders up to 11.94 per cent. of the Enlarged Issued Share Capital.
The acquisition of Supporta will, inter alia, provide Mears' Domiciliary Care division with increased scale and thus enable Mears to pursue further, larger and more comprehensive contracts, particularly given Local Authorities are increasingly seeking to reduce the number of providers for outsourced services.
The Supporta Directors, who have been so advised by Brewin Dolphin, consider the terms of the Offer to be fair and reasonable. In providing advice to the Supporta Directors, Brewin Dolphin has taken into account the Supporta Directors' commercial assessment of the Offer. The Supporta Directors intend to recommend unanimously that Supporta Shareholders accept the Offer as the Supporta Directors have irrevocably undertaken to do so in respect of their own beneficial holdings in Supporta comprising, in aggregate, 620,000 Supporta Shares, representing in aggregate approximately 0.72 per cent. of the existing issued share capital of Supporta.
In addition, Mears has received irrevocable undertakings to accept, or procure the acceptance of, the Offer from certain other Supporta Shareholders in respect of, in aggregate, 29,508,122 Supporta Shares, representing approximately 34.13 per cent. of Supporta's entire existing issued share capital. Accordingly, Mears has received irrevocable undertakings to accept, or procure the acceptance of, the Offer in respect of, in aggregate, 30,128,122 Supporta Shares, representing approximately 34.85 per cent. of Supporta's entire existing issued share capital.

Pre-Close Trading Update

RNS Number : 2293F
Mears Group PLC
08 January 2010

8 January 2010

Mears Group PLC
("Mears" or "the Group")

Pre-Close Trading Update

Mears is pleased to announce that it expects to report another successful
trading outcome for the year ended 31 December 2009 with particular focus on
its robust management of working capital with strong cash conversion of
operating profit.

The Group has already secured 75 per cent of its consensus forecast revenues for
2010 and the forward order book stands at GBP1.8 billion. Mears has previously
announced new contract awards in 2009 of in excess of GBP550 million with a
potential worth in excess of GBP650 million, subject to contract extensions.
This will result in a record year for the Group in terms of both new contract
awards and order book level. The bid pipeline continues to be strong and the
Group is currently at advanced stages of negotiating further significant
opportunities.

Commenting, Bob Holt, Chairman of Mears, said:

"I am delighted with the progress made across the Group during 2009,
particularly with our achievements in continuing to build a successful care
provision along side our social housing services.

The demand for our services has never been stronger. Our two growth markets
Social Housing and Domiciliary Care, which together account for approaching 90%
of Group revenues, are defensive markets where spend is largely non
discretionary and afford us substantial immunity from bad debts. Moreover as a
result of our quality partnership relationships with public sector customers, we
have not experienced any work delays in the areas in which we operate".

The Group will be announcing its preliminary results for the year ended 31
December 2009 on Tuesday 9 March 2010.

Excellent trading update..very happy with my Dec bought investment in MER...hopefully this'll continue to strengthen gradually to 330p+ over the coming months :-)

Nice bounce yesterday and today - Arbuthnot reiterated its 340p target.

Cool!...onwards & upwards from here! 335p will do me!

Final Results.

Summary of Operations and Outlook

Financial:

Major tender successes, with record contract wins valued at over 650m in the last twelve months.
Group operating margin increased to 5.3%.
Operating profit to cash conversion at 108.7%.
Strong balance sheet with net funds of 6.5m.
New bank facility for the enlarged Group committed of 85m until June 2013.
Dividend increased by 20%.

bought some more this morning..hoping for a 30% gradual re-rating in the sp from here in the coming months. (imho)

Nice RNS this morning.....