Mears Share Discussion Threads

[nellie1973] 14/8/2009 09:31

Are we going to hit the magic 300p??

[rivaldo] 14/8/2009 09:29

Climbing before next Tuesday's results.

[rivaldo] 12/8/2009 19:29

Nice close tonight.

[rivaldo] 12/8/2009 12:05

Ta CWA1 - will have a look at those. I already hold DGO, but hoping for some further bidders to flush out the value!

I've also sneakily bought a few IRV on the dip following the results. Might buy some more if the price looks solid, which it does at present.

[essentialinvestor] 12/8/2009 10:02

SUS hard to get hold of, that is the understatement of the year.

[cwa1] 12/8/2009 09:20

Many thanks r, I shall have a little look at the ones you mentioned. Any goodies myself? Wellllll, to be honest, if you had asked me about a month ago I would have said yes there are a few but most of them have shot off into what I call fair value territority now- so not much point in passing those on to you. Just a few examples, IRV, BPI, DLTA, BBY, CEL(bid) etc, I still think there may be some mileage in them but they are not as cheap as they were.

I'm still holding VPC(Venture) tho I feel as if CNA will get them for a song soon. If CNA get them for 845p I would be interested in investing in CNA, so look out for that one.

DGO(Dragon) are currently under bid attention from ENOC at the moment and I reckon they may have to raise their bid price suggestions from a "modest premium" to a reasonable premium to get them.

One I quite like the look of is OFF-but even it has perked up a few pence in the past few days with results coming into view soon.

I also like the look of SUS, yesterday's Trading Statement was very upbeat by their standards but it is rather illiquid and hard to get hold of stock!

GBP is valued at less than cash with reasonable prospects I reckon.

I even bought some UU. near its recent nadir after the draft determination being a bit negative. Not my normal sort of share but IF they can get a decent review of the determination by November then it should be a sound long termer.

In the same vein NG. should be a steady performer I reckon.

Overall, I have to say that I feel that the market might be a little ahead of itself-so will wait for a pullback before splashing most of it-and am probably as cashy as I have been for a little while so not as many suggestions as I might normally have!

Apologies to all for the OT

Oh, and I should mention, I like the look of one called Mears and have a decent sized holding there ;-)

[rivaldo] 11/8/2009 19:05

OT : Hi CWA1. we do seem to share a taste in stocks! Of my ISAble stocks, those I believe will do or continue to do well include ALN in particular, plus MER of course and CAR. UGY as a gold play is ISAble as dual-listed and could be about to zoom following news as a bit of a punt. SMDR are a quality oil play with further news flow imminent.

On AIM I still love the Chinese stocks GNG and CHNS. RCG could surprise us all. C21 are about to announce excellent results, and have great asset backing. And there's VLE, RHEP and KBC which haven't moved that much despite positive news flow.

Any goodies yourself?

[cwa1] 11/8/2009 13:05

Good stuff riv, thanks. As I see you regularly on the threads I look at or frequent, I hope you don't mind if I ask what are your current favourites in case I've missed out on them?! Apologies to all for a very brief off topic request which I will not extend on here beyond any answer riv may care to give.

[rivaldo] 11/8/2009 11:16

Excellent stuff from today's Mail - 335p here we come.

Knowing MER the RSL's are definitely an opportunity:



"Social housing and home help group Mears raced 12½p ahead to 268¼p on a
Collins Stewart recommendation and target price of 335p ahead of next Tuesday's interim results.

Analyst Julian Cater points out that the £20million offer for home help group Claimar Care, ½p off at 31½p, by Housing 21, one of the largest registered social landlords (RSLs), provides further evidence of the development of a joined-up approach to the position of housing and care services, particularly for the elderly. The expansion of RSLs into care makes them both a potential customer and competitor for Mears."

[rivaldo] 10/8/2009 19:49

Looking good chart-wise too - next stop that last 282p or so peak.

Still 5 trading days for further advances prior to the results.

[essentialinvestor] 10/8/2009 17:25

This was long overdue a re-rating.
You only needed to compare the rating with CNT to see the value here
and Mears have cash on the balance sheet.

[nellie1973] 10/8/2009 16:15

How many days in a row has this risen?? This has been steady for the past month. At last the true nature of this stock is to be realized.

[5dally] 10/8/2009 15:29

Nice move here today :-)

[mdrans1] 10/8/2009 12:59

hosede

"As more and more councils get into dire financial straights, they will pay their direct employees rather than MER."

Obviously you have never worked in local government. That's not how it works.

[rivaldo] 10/8/2009 10:37

Results next Tuesday the 18th, so we can expect a continued run-up to that date given the excellent trading statements.

MER also has healthy net cash and lots of facilities if required.

[hosede] 10/8/2009 10:10

Yes as risk aversion increases, MER will be one of the beneficiaries, but in the medium term bad debt/slow payment is going to be their main problem. As more and more councils get into dire financial straights, they will pay their direct employees rather than MER. I guess they will get most of their money eventually, but cash flow could be difficult; most of their costs are labour I assume, and you can't really avoid paying that on the nail

[rivaldo] 10/8/2009 09:12

Off we go again.

[essentialinvestor] 09/8/2009 10:42

Some more good news from Nestor Healthcare last week which reported results.
Their main division is Social Care which is Home/Domiliciary Care..

"The Social Care business delivered profits up £0.2m to £4.3m (2008: £4.1m) with an improved margin of 8.2% (2008: 7.7%)."

They further add that "Care worker recruitment is no longer an inhibitor to growth."

So margins increasing and recruitment now far easier in this Sector.

With Home Care now one of MER's main drivers of growth over the next few years,
the powerful combination of rising margins and easier recruitment are very positive.

No wonder Claimar is said by the FT have attracted 10 different bidders for the
Company.

[cravencottage] 09/8/2009 10:23

Thats an interesting post Riv.

I hadn't realised that by May of this year Mears had already secured 92% of their expected revenue for 2009.

So with the additional contracts secured thereafter this old Gem has to be a no brainer.

I remember when Mears was trading at a PE of 20. Now I know growth has slowed down a tad but glancing at the latest estimates for 2010 analysts are looking for around EPS 25p.

So if Mears can be re-rated similarly to Connaught a target price of 350p should be in the offing.

Here's hoping

Cheers

CravenCottage

[essentialinvestor] 07/8/2009 19:17

The closer you look at Mears the more value you begin to discover here.
They have cash balances compared to net debt at CNT who sell on a higher rating.

Add back on CNT's debt to their market cap and you discover what value there is at anywhere near these levels by comparison.

Claimar received a bid for approx 40 million today (19.5 million plus their debt of approx 20 million) the shares up over 100% on the news.
Claimar are a Domiliciary Care play, one of Mears main markets and shows
how strong future prospects are in the Home Care market.

Mears looks due a strong run Up to results and a re-rating IMO.

[lucky_lady] 07/8/2009 13:29

Holding up well on a down day.

Results soon.

[rivaldo] 07/8/2009 11:01

Interesting - two RNS. with both Aegon and Lloyds top-slicing. So the intriguing question is who is buying given the rise?

[rivaldo] 07/8/2009 10:00

Continuing to slowly climb.