Mears Share Discussion Threads

[essentialinvestor] 08/7/2010 13:53

rivaldo

Not sure about the re-weighting, what may be more interesting
is the opportunity to gain Market share.
This may also help margin, as I would imagine CNT had been
aggressive on price imv.

Not currently holding.

[rivaldo] 08/7/2010 13:46

HSBC's Matthew Lloyd is very positive today in a review of the business services sector - MER initiated at Overweight:



"We initiate Experian, Mears, Aggreko, Northgate, Regus at Overweight, retain
Overweight recommendations on Bunzl, Electrocomponents and Premier Farnell. We initiate USG and Ashtead at Underweight, and retain Underweight on Wolseley, Adecco, Randstad, Hays, and Michael Page. We initiate at Neutral on Capita, Xchanging, G4S, Securitas, Davis Service Group and Mitie. We retain Neutral ratings on Rentokil, Serco, SThree and WS Atkins."

Given CNT's obvious internal issues there must surely be a re-weighting of investment funds towards MER as the sector's safe option at some point.

[thickasmince] 06/7/2010 22:25

Trust me to go away and come back to this. That's the last time I take ill. We appear to be hovering around this level and may do so until MER give more updates on trading, something they are in a good habit of doing. Note, Bob Holt will be retiring this year so any takeover thoughts will no doubt linger with some of you. I would have to say, CNT is a very appropriate ticker code for that lot. I also note expressions of horror about their accounting habits by Evil Knieval, a long term shorter of CNT. Still a holder and have been since Dec'2000

[rivaldo] 05/7/2010 12:30

Enjoy steve!

Interesting - Breeden Ventures, the activist investors who bought 3.05% of MER last month, have now increased at Connaught with 7.02%. Could be some interesting corporate activity on the way per FT Alphaville this morning.

[stevemarkus] 05/7/2010 07:53

Thanks rivaldo. We do seem to have similar tastes. I am a happy bunny today - XP Power just released a nice statement, it's sunny, and we're off to my son's graduation.

Happy days (for now at least)!
Cheers,
Steve.

[rivaldo] 02/7/2010 14:11

Good to see you here stevemarkus, always a positive to see you holding one of my mid-caps :o))

Looks like a rally is starting.

[cambium] 02/7/2010 09:52

Blimey, theres a name from the past, say hi in return, hope hes well.

well done this last year, there has been some great gains to be had. and also some cheapies are developing as we speak.

good luck see you around

[essentialinvestor] 02/7/2010 09:46

Very well thanks mate.


Dave from the "shed" days asked me to say hello when I last saw him.

Some very nice opportunities now presenting themselves in Small Caps.
Stock pickers Markets now more than ever I think.

My Dad sold his Domiciliary Care business to Private Equity last year,
so I know a bit about that Market.

Trading Full Time now and been a great last 9 months thankfully, DVO, KFX, LOOK (trade in and out) BKG, MTO, GAW.

No longer term holds in this type of Market, just near results then out -
although DVO would have been nice to hold on to.

[cambium] 02/7/2010 09:19

agreed but if synergies are found then it all falls to the bottom line, cheers EI, how are you by the way?

[essentialinvestor] 02/7/2010 09:16

Fair enough.

I think the amounts paid for some of the acquisitions have been
generous imv.

[essentialinvestor] 02/7/2010 09:08

Cambium

Do you not favour the MTO model?.

[cambium] 02/7/2010 08:51

OK time to revisit way overdone imo

[gears] 01/7/2010 17:07

Mainly small sellers maybe a sell note.Could bounce if Directors buy in.

[cwa1] 01/7/2010 17:00

Good to have you on board Steve. Looks overdone. Time will tell.........

[stevemarkus] 01/7/2010 16:39

Well, that price drop was too much for me - I had to join you and have bought my first holding of Mears. Now let's hope Bob Holt delivers on his promises.

Cheers,
Steve.

[turborock] 01/7/2010 15:31

price is the same as it was 5 years ago (ish). Are things that bad?

[cwa1] 28/6/2010 12:33

Cheers riv, sounds about right. Off to inspect MTO again now!

[rivaldo] 28/6/2010 12:17

And Investec say Buy MER today - basically everyone is saying CNT's problems are company-specific:



"We reiterate our Sell on Connaught and Buy on Mears and MITIE* (MTO.L).
Mears has confirmed in a trading statement this morning that trading across all
divisions remains strong, there is no evidence of downward pressure in spending
in social housing, they continue to win longer term agreements with Local
Authorities and RSLs and 91% of consensus revenues for the current year have
been secured. We also understand that MITIE are not seeing the conditions
Connaught has highlighted. The cash flow profiles of these two businesses
support our view that they are conservatively accounted support services
providers that supply into long term outsourcing markets. Hence we believe their prospects are strong and the pressure on public finances should be a positive driver."

[cwa1] 28/6/2010 07:16

And just in case anyone missed it on Friday :-))

Further Response re: Price Movement

Following the brief statement made by Mears after the market closed on Friday 25
June the Company is pleased to reiterate that it is continuing to deliver strong
trading across all divisions and is not experiencing any downward pressure on
spend in its social housing business. Current trading and strong cash conversion
for the year are in line with management expectations.

In summary:

� Continuing to deliver strong trading across all divisions
� No evidence or experience of downward pressure in spending in social
housing which remains a largely secure and non-discretionary spend
� GBP2.5 billion order book and GBP3 billion bid pipeline
� Winning longer term agreements with Local Authorities and RSLs
� Secured revenues of 91% of consensus forecast for the current year
� Strong focus on cash conversion.

Commenting, Bob Holt, Chairman of Mears Group, said:
"I believe that Mears will now be considered market leader in social housing
repair and maintenance which will add further to an already unprecedented level
of opportunity within the public sector. Local Authority clients continue to
consider more innovative and higher scale partnerships which is already
evidenced this year with major contract wins.

"The quality of our operational delivery and our people underpins our strategy
and continues to give us clear competitive advantage as evidenced by our
enhanced reputation both in terms of the winning of new business and the
recruitment and retention of key personnel. These factors are central in
maintaining a robust revenue stream with our existing client base whilst
providing significant opportunity within our bid pipeline."

[rivaldo] 27/6/2010 20:58

Should be a mega bounce back tomorrow following that late Friday RNS. Nice work CWA1!!

[cwa1] 27/6/2010 18:09

Agreed, good sharp work. For the record:-

Statement re Price Movement


Mears notes the announcement made by Connaught regarding the delays in contracts
within Social Housing and reflective share price movements.

Mears is pleased to announce that they have not experienced such delays as a
result of the Emergency Budget, and current trading remains in line with
management expectations.

Mears is continuing to deliver strong trading across all divisions with an order
book which currently stands at GBP2.5 billion with secured revenues of 91% of
consensus forecast for the current year.

[melody9999] 25/6/2010 22:14

Well done on issuing the statement re share price movement RNS so quickly - management certainly on the ball (and I don't mean watching the WC!)

[cwa1] 25/6/2010 17:29

Think there may well be some effect given just how much things have tightened up Riv. But hopefully a minor effect only, if there is one. I suppose it will take time to see how much, if at all, it will impact on them, but it would be useful if they could RNS it(even if nothing) as it may have a drag effect if they don't.

Good luck to all holders :-)