Mears Share News (MER)

(ShareCast News) - Social housing and care support services provider Mears issued a pre-close trading update on Tuesday, ahead of its preliminary results for the year to 31 December, which will be released on 21 March.The London-listed firm said it was continuing to deliver a "solid" trading performance and anticipates reporting results for the full year in line with management expectations.It said it also expects to report a small net debt balance.Mears' housing division experienced a record number of new contract starts during 2016, and following a successful period of mobilisations, the board said those contracts are fully bedded down.The rationalisation of our care business - which it announced in August - was now substantially complete, allowing greater focus to be placed upon higher quality contracts with sustainable margins.Mears said it has good visibility of future revenues with 93% and 82% of the market consensus revenue forecast for 2017 and 2018 of £1.01bn and £1.06bn respectively."Our housing business has delivered a solid performance in the year," said chief executive David Miles."I am particularly pleased by the quality of the newly mobilised contracts and the continued strong progress being made by our housing management business where the pipeline of bidding opportunities remains particularly exciting."Miles said that while the trading environment within care remains challenging, the business has substantially completed its planned branch closures, placing it on a better footing."While the recruitment of sufficient numbers of good quality care workers remains our biggest challenge, we continue to see significant opportunity in the care sector long-term."I am pleased with the overall progress of Mears in 2016," he quipped."The group is well positioned to take advantage of future opportunities and we look forward to updating the market with further successes."