Mears Share Discussion Threads

[debbiegee] 23/4/2010 16:12

only app 9 days with better vol this year !
is it possible more good news is on the way ?

[debbiegee] 23/4/2010 14:33

335 just for today LOL !

[rcktmn] 23/4/2010 14:23

only 335p?...

[debbiegee] 23/4/2010 13:25

Excellent ;-)

[rivaldo] 23/4/2010 12:08

Collins Stewart pushing MER today - excellent volumes for a quiet Friday:



"Collins Stewart has...a buy and 335p target for Mears"

[rivaldo] 22/4/2010 10:31

A small mention in today's Mail:



"News of a £170m contract with the London Borough of Lambeth to provide maintenance services meant Mears put on 3p to 296p. Its social housing bid pipeline now stands at £3.5bn."

[debbiegee] 21/4/2010 16:38

UT 296 bodes well I hope !

[rivaldo] 21/4/2010 12:45

Good coverage on GCI:



"Mears wins £170m Lambeth deal
21/04/2010 Robert Tyerman

Social housing specialist Mears Group has clinched a chunky seven-year contract with the London Borough of Lambeth.

The deal is fully listed Mears' first with the South London borough and covers repairs, refurbishment, estate management and maintenance. The 'partnership contract' can be extended for a further three years, subject to performance, in which case the company would receive £170 million revenues over 10 years.

Chairman Bob Holt says the Lambeth award, following a recent £200 million deal with Brighton, is another example of the larger contracts Mears is now winning. He argues increasingly cash-conscious local authorities and other clients are 'looking for value for money, not necessarily the cheapest quote'.

'They want long-term relationships', maintains Holt, adding 'we see ourselves winning more deals like this'. That would augur well for the company, which increased pre-tax profits by 19 per cent last year to £18.4 million, on turnover up 12.3 per cent to £470 million.

Bulls see Mears increasing pre-tax profits 60 per cent to £29.5 million this year, for earnings of 24.5p a share. At 293.5p, against a year's high of 300.5p and a 223.5p low, that would put the shares on a fairly undemanding prospective price/earnings ratio of 12."

[debbiegee] 21/4/2010 11:57

iT TOOK ITS TIME lol !

[rivaldo] 21/4/2010 11:44

Delayed reaction to today's news :o)) Blue now...

[rivaldo] 21/4/2010 07:07

Great stuff - another large, long-term contract win:



"GBP170m Contract with London Borough of Lambeth
Repairs, Maintenance and Improvement Partnership

Mears is pleased to announce that, subject to leaseholder consultation, the London Borough of Lambeth intend to award a long-term partnership contract to provide responsive repairs, void refurbishment, estate management, decent homes and planned maintenance. The contract relates to the North housing region which includes around 8,000 of the 20,100 tenanted homes within Lambeth.

The 7 year contract; (with an extension of up to a further 3 years dependant on performance) is valued at GBP170 million (including extension) and is expected to commence in October 2010.

Commenting, Bob Holt, Chairman of Mears, said:

"Mears has long been recognised as market leader in terms of operational
performance and tenant satisfaction in the Social Housing arena.

Consistent with our strategy of winning quality contracts that provide clear and sustainable margins, Mears once again achieved outstanding scores in the
competitive tendering process for the quality of our offering focused on service delivery and tenant satisfaction.

The new contract award is designed to deliver tangible improvements into the
community. Lambeth's partnership ethos creates long term opportunities for its
partners who are committed to delivering the quality and value for money I have referred to. The tenant centric service is set to improve their lives and the community in which they live. We look forward to serving the tenants of Lambeth for many years to come.

The size of the Mears social housing bid pipeline for contract tenders
remains extremely healthy at GBP3.5 billion and we continue to target customers who share our view of long term partnering arrangements."

[rivaldo] 15/4/2010 19:15

Impressive finish. A dash above 300p might just spark a run to 330p-350p.

[rivaldo] 15/4/2010 10:53

MER retaining work in Birmingham (and winning the gas servicing and repairs work?):



"New contractors for council tenants
Published by Hannah Wooderson for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Local Government
Wednesday 14th April 2010 - 2:37pm

Birmingham City Council tenants are receiving repairs from new contractors for their homes."

"Mears will continue to repair and maintain the homes of tenants living in Hodge Hill and Yardley. Mears will also undertake both gas servicing and repairs within these two areas."

[rivaldo] 12/4/2010 14:42

Good to see the share price rising again slowly and surely.

[rivaldo] 07/4/2010 13:40

Interesting, thx. I'll stick with MER.

[pbracken] 07/4/2010 12:21

Breedon is switching out of MER into CNT (where it has just picked up 4% of the company).

[rivaldo] 07/4/2010 12:15

RNS out - considering Breeden have reduced below 3% the share price has performed very strongly recently. Bodes well for the future when Breeden stop selling (if they haven't already).

[rivaldo] 06/4/2010 15:23

Looking better now...

[rivaldo] 06/4/2010 07:22

News re MER getting involved in "green" refurbishments - the participation in the Government's Feed In Tariffs could be particularly rewarding:



"Eco homes lead the way to green future
Date: 06 April 2010
By ANNA SMITH

HOME refurbishment is going green in Morpeth in a pioneering combination of eco-technologies....

...The scheme has come about through partnership work between the housing association, the Mears Group and Faithful and Gould.

Mears Commercial and Environmental Manager Paul Kellaway said: "Mears was delighted to have been approached by our partners to look at innovative ways on how to improve the existing refurbishment specification and to include new sustainable technologies, which would make a real difference to the occupant."

The success of the scheme in offering cost and energy savings will be monitored by tenants and Castle Morpeth Housing's parent group Isos to help shape future projects."

[rivaldo] 04/4/2010 07:36

I look forward to MER advancing to nearer all the broker valuations of 340p-350p. Perhaps an influx of ISA funds for the new tax year will help this week.

News:



"Mears membership of FTSE4Good index continues
2nd April 2010

Mears was admitted to the FTSE4Good index in March 09 and we have recently been informed that our membership continues as our social and environmental policies continue to meet the Index CSR standards.

FTSE4Good is the responsible investment index calculated by the FTSE Group. Mears is included in the Index because it meets the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) inclusion criteria for member companies.

The Index criteria for CSR includes environmental management, human and labour rights and supply chain labour standards. Member companies are measured by their performance in these areas against global CSR standards.

FTSE4Good is used as the basis for responsible investment and fund products, as a research tool to identify environmentally and socially responsible companies, as a reference tool for evolving CSR standards and as a benchmark index to track the performance of responsible investment portfolios."

[chrisfoster] 31/3/2010 17:38

rivaldo - I still rate the company highly, and think a fair price is comfortably over £3. But if I can buy them for cheaper still than they are now, even better.

[rivaldo] 31/3/2010 12:05

Fair enough chris, but this from only seven posts ago shows 88% revenue visibility and unprecedented opportunities in the downturn for MER:

"Mears remains bullish in outlook, partly thanks to "unprecedented levels of opportunity in the public sector', their statement said.

The order book is up at £2bn (2008: £1.6 billion). Also, they note an 88 per cent visibility of consensus forecast revenue for 2010 and 69 per cent for 2011.

Social housing's bid pipeline is £3.9bn (2008: £2.8 billion) with a significant proportion of contract opportunities at an advanced stage of bidding. 
The domiciliary care division is "on track to operate under single Mears Care brand".

Bob Holt, chairman of Mears Group, said the bid pipeline currently stands at its highest ever level of £3.9bn. "Importantly, our two growth markets social housing and domiciliary care, which account for close to 90 per cent of group revenue, are defensive sectors where spend is largely non-discretionary and is therefore unlikely to be affected by any public sector cutbacks. It should also be noted that a significant proportion of our social housing revenue is derived from Housing Associations who would be less affected by a reduction in public sector spending."

Holt believes that budget constraints within the public sector "are more likely to encourage our local authority clients to consider more innovative and higher scale partnerships". Reflecting the Board's confidence in the future opportunities for our growth markets, the dividend is increased by 20 per cent."

[chrisfoster] 31/3/2010 11:00

Down in sympathy with CNT and MTO yesterday? Perhaps the broker comment "outlook for public spending has deteriorated further" has something to do with it. I got out at just over 290 and will watch and wait for a bit.