Last checked at 9 Jun 2010 07:00
9 June 2010
Mears Group PLC
("Mears" or "the Company" or "the Group")
AGM Statement
At the Company's Annual General Meeting to be held today at 9.30 a.m. at 2 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7QP, the Chairman will make the following update:
Mears issued its Interim Management Statement ("IMS") on 11 May 2010 and is pleased to report that the trends referred to in the IMS are continuing which are summarised from the IMS as follows;
·; Continued strong trading across all the Group's divisions;
·; Over £500 million of new contract awards in Social Housing;
·; 9 new contract awards in domiciliary care;
·; Integration of the Supporta acquisition is well advanced.
IMS Comment on Trading
Mears is continuing to deliver strong trading across all divisions.
Since publication of our final results on 9 March 2010 for the year to 31 December 2009, we have announced contract wins of over £500 million in Social Housing and a bid pipeline which still remains in excess of £3 billion. The order book currently stands at £2.5 billion with secured revenues of 91% of consensus forecast for the current year and 77% for 2011.
IMS Comment on Outlook
Mears' two growth markets of Social Housing and Domiciliary Care, which account for approximately 90 per cent of Group revenues, are defensive sectors where spend is predominantly non-discretionary and cash generation is robust. Given the Group's public sector client base, Mears is substantially immune to bad debts and our customer work patterns and payment terms have remained on schedule.
Mears is well positioned to benefit from an active contract bidding market and remains confident in the prospects for the future growth of the Group.
ends.
About Mears www.mearsgroup.co.uk (tickers: MER.L MER.LN MER.PL)
Mears is a leading social housing repairs and maintenance service provider to Local Authorities and Registered Social Housing Landlords in the UK and, following the acquisition of Supporta, now commands a leading position in the UK Local Authorities' outsourced domiciliary care market, providing personal care services to people in their own homes.
Mears employs in excess of 11,000 people and provides maintenance and repairs services to 500,000 homes nationwide. Mears also provides over 150,000 hours of domiciliary care to 20,000 service users each week.
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Enquiries:
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| Mears Group PLC |
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| Bob Holt, Chairman | Tel: +44(0)7778 798 816 |
| Andrew Smith, Finance Director | Tel: +44(0)7712 866 461 |
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Joint Broker - Investec |
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| Keith Anderson/Daniel Adams | Tel: +44(0)20 7597 5970 |
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Joint Broker - Collins Stewart |
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| Mark Dickenson/Piers Coombs | Tel: +44(0)20 7523 8350 |
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Financial PR |
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| Threadneedle Communications |
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| Trevor Bass/Alex White | Tel: +44(0)20 7936 9666 |
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IR - Hansard Communications |
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| John Bick/Kirsty Corcoran | Tel: +44(0)7245 1100 Tel: +44(0)7872 061007 |