Mears Regulatory News (MER)

10 Jan 2008 07:00

Mears Group PLC10 January 2008 Mears Group PLC ("Mears" or "the Company") Trading update Strong Performance across all Operations Series of key contract wins in Social Housing Growing presence in Domiciliary Care Mears is pleased to issue a trading update ahead of its preliminary resultsannouncement for the year ending 31 December 2007, due to be released on 11March 2008. The strong first half performance has accelerated in the second half, with allof the Company's businesses performing well. Contract Wins in Social Housing Since announcing interim results in August 2007, Mears has secured threesignificant social housing contracts with new customers with a total value of£204 million as follows: - Yesterday the Company announced the award of a flagship contract withBirmingham City Council to provide responsive repairs and voids refurbishment.The contract is worth £65 million over 4.5 years with a possible extension to a7 year term. - In November 2007 Mears announced an £89million major strategic partnershipwith Sedgefield Borough Council over 5 years covering all aspects of housingrepairs, maintenance and decent homes. - In October of 2007 the Company was awarded a 10 year contract worth £50million to carry out response and repair works for Midland Heart HousingAssociation. Since announcing its results for 2006 Mears has won contracts worth £500 millionacross the whole group. The Company's order book now stands at a record level of£1.4 billion. With 97% revenue visibility for 2008 and some 77% of the 2009market consensus forecast secured, the Company is confident that it willcontinue its record of delivering strong performance. Growing Presence in Domiciliary Care In line with the Company's growth strategy to extend its presence in thedomiciliary care sector, Mears has continued to acquire small and medium sizedcompanies in the sector and these will provide a positive contribution towardsthe planned revenue growth for 2008. Since Mears acquired Careforce Group plc in April 2007 the Company has acquiredeight businesses for an aggregate initial purchase consideration of £10.3million which includes the most recent acquisition in December of CCA QualityHome Care Ltd ("CCA") for a maximum total consideration of £2.45 million. CCAoperates from offices in Lisburn, Northern Ireland servicing contracts with theBelfast Trust and the South Eastern Trust as well as a small number of privateclients. This series of acquisitions now provides the necessary scale for Mears toinfluence the way in which domiciliary care is procured and delivered and theCompany is confident of winning new contracts in the near future given its mostrecent bidding activity in the domiciliary care sector. Strong Operational Performance and Continued Investment From an operational perspective Mears continues to perform strongly, placing theutmost importance on service standards and on its partnership with customers.Mears has continued to invest in systems and in people to ensure that theexcellent record of contract retention and customer care is maintained. New Contract Bid Pipeline The Company's bid pipeline remains strong which is very encouraging,particularly following the substantial contract awards which have already beenachieved. Mears continues to be highly selective in the contracts it targets toensure that the Company maintains a high quality order book and a sustainablebusiness model. In addition, the continued pressures on existing and potentialcustomers to both contain costs and improve efficiencies will also providefurther opportunities to add to the range of services Mears can provide to itsgrowing customer base. - Ends - NOTES TO EDITORS: Mears Group PLC is a leading provider of a range of services to sociallandlords. The Group is also a major supplier of domiciliary care in the UnitedKingdom following the acquisition of Careforce Group plc in April 2007. The social housing services provided include response maintenance, voidrefurbishment, planned preventative maintenance, improvements to meet the'Decent Homes Standard' and estate management. Profits have shown an annual compound growth rate of 40% since Mears was listedon AIM in October 1996. The Group was awarded the AIM Company of the year awardin 2003. Enquiries: Mears Group PLC Bob Holt, Chief Executive 07778 798 816 David Robertson, Finance Director 07887 705 357 Andrew Smith, Executive Director 07712 866 461 Threadneedle Communications Trevor Bass/Alex White 020 7936 9666 Nominated adviser to Mears Group PLC - Investec Keith Anderson/Michael Ansell 020 7597 5970 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange