Mears Regulatory News (MER)

14 Dec 2009 07:00



14 December 2009

Mears Group PLC

("Mears" or "the Group")

£200 million of new contract wins across all divisions

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

The awards have an initial value of £113 million and are subject to contract extensions taking the total worth to in excess of £200 million. This takes the aggregate total of new contracts awarded in the nine months since Mears announced its preliminary results to in excess of £550 million with a potential worth in excess of £650 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.

Social Housing division

We have been awarded new contracts amounting to £93 million that have a potential worth in excess of £180 million subject to contract extensions as set out below:

Crawley Borough Council

A 10 year partnership with Crawley Borough Council in West Sussex to provide responsive repairs and voids services. Crawley Borough Council has been a client of Mears since 2004. The contract sum is valued at £30 million for the 10 year period.

Colchester Borough Council 

A four year partnership to provide Decent Homes services to the housing stock managed by Colchester Borough Homes. The contract is valued at £10 million for the four year period with an option to extend to six years giving a value of £15 million. 

Canterbury City Council 

A five year partnership to provide responsive repairs and voids services to Canterbury City Council. The contract includes external decoration programmes and disabled aids and adaptation improvements. The contract is valued at £28 million for the initial five year period with a performance option to extend to 15 years increasing the value to in excess of £82 million . We are the sole provider appointed to provide services to the Council's 5,298 homes.

Thanet District Council

A five year partnership to provide responsive repairs and voids services to Thanet District Council, which was jointly procured with Canterbury City Council. The contract includes external decoration programmes and disabled aids and adaptation improvements. The contract is valued at £13 million for the initial five year period and also includes a performance option to extend to 15 years giving a value of in excess of £40 million. We are the sole provider appointed to provide services to the Councils 3,116 homes. Thanet District Council has been a client of Mears since 2004.

Birmingham City Council

A five and a half year partnership to provide gas maintenance services to the central area of Birmingham's housing portfolio. This contract is worth £12 million. This is an extension to the response repairs service we currently provide to the same area for the City.

Domiciliary Care division

The Group's Domiciliary Care division continues to build a presence across a growing geographical area. The division is continuing to experience a trend of Local Authorities to procure services from fewer and larger care providers.

Newport City Council

A three year contract commencing in 2010 with the potential to provide around 1,500 hours per week. This is our second tender success in Wales and there are several other opportunities in our tender pipeline. Wales has high levels of domiciliary care provided direct by local authorities and we anticipate significant growth opportunities in the future.

Peterborough City Council and NHS Peterborough

We established a greenfield site in Peterborough this year, with the existing Cross Keys Homes partnership with Mears. This was one of the very first pilot sites in the UK established by Mears to deliver on the Government initiative of a care and repair service where the total needs of residents and service users was placed at the heart of a service. The positive start will be built on following the award of contracts in both domiciliary care and higher end work from Peterborough PCT. 

Darlington

A two year spot contract with a possible extension of up to a further two years. This should grow to over 1,000 hours per week in the area from the current very small levels of work that we have with the Authority.

Mechanical and Electrical division

The M&E division has been successful in being awarded works valued at £20 million which are to be delivered in the main in 2010.

£13 million of the £20 million relates to a contract to provide M&E infrastructure and fit out works on the Athletes Village for the 2012 London Games. The Athletes Village will become a mixed community of Social and Part Ownership homes for rent and some private homes for sale post the Olympics and help regenerate the area and leave a long term legacy after 2012. These awards increase the total works on the Village to date to £22 million when added to a previously awarded contract. 

Commenting on the Group's contract wins, Bob Holt, Chairman, said:

"In spite of current speculation on public spending cuts Mears continues to secure long term partnerships with public sector clients who demand cost effective value for money services. We continue to be highly selective throughout our tender process which ensures that we commit to high levels of customer service, long term employment opportunities for our staff and partners and operating margins at the very top end of the sectors in which we operate.

"I cannot emphasise enough the tremendous amount of effort and commitment that Mears provides to it's growing customer base.

"I look forward to bringing you further news in the future."

About Mears  www.mearsgroup.co.uk

Mears is a leading social housing service provider to Local Authorities and Registered Social Housing Landlords in the UK and has a growing presence in the domiciliary care market, providing personal care services to people in their own homes delivered as part of outsourcing arrangements with Local Authorities.

Mears employs in excess of 8,000 people and provides maintenance and repairs services to 500,000 homes nationwide. Mears also provides domiciliary care to 13,500 service users each week