Mears Share Discussion Threads

[rivaldo] 08/10/2010 13:46

Hi turborock. I'm also in AEX and AST for my sins, but reckon both'll be substantially higher at some point.

As for other ISAble gold stocks, have you looked at OMI? Crazy valuation - with gold at these prices it'll have cash flow equating to it's ENTIRE m/cap in one year! Plus there's all sorts of developments going on with blue sky potential, and it's in politically stable environments. There's also been some director share buying. Read the OMI thread, particularly any recent posts by "adam".

MIRL is also worth a look with existing production plus lots of prospects, and AAAM could be a multibagger. Plus MML looks the best play of all in terms of solid production with room for expansion.

I also have oil stocks like SMDR, CEO and IAE, which all have solid production and will soon be on low P/E's, but which all have transformational potential.

[turborock] 08/10/2010 12:37

yup I agree, just going to see where it goes for the next few days. Know any good resource ones that are isable? i'm in cey, aex and caza at the mo.

[rivaldo] 06/10/2010 14:51

Had a change of heart and sold today. Primarily, there may be some upside here, but there are other ISAble opportunities with much bigger upside. And having talked to a number of people in the public sector, you just would not believe what is happening there with the level of cuts being made. I don't believe MER will be seriously affected, but there may be "some" effect which neutralises growth.

Good luck all. The resource sector is going gangbusters, and that's where the money's being made at present.

[melody9999] 02/10/2010 22:55

It seems that MER must have been fairly busy when CNT unwound what with B Gas and Jackson Lloyd. My guess is that we will get some CNT related business. But until the i s are dotted and the t s crossed - meaning we have done the due diligence on any contracts that we take over - then there will be no news.

I like the way these guys do business - rather than diving in like Morgan Sindall - lets take our time - it feels good to me and it should attract new investors too.

[rivaldo] 02/10/2010 17:55

Nice mention in the Mail today - I think analysts' targets may be lifted after the next set of results.

Looks like a nice break above 300p:



"Thriving Mears Group rose 6.5p further to 305.75p after analysts gave the thumbs up to its £4.8m acquisition of Jackson-Lloyd, a social housing maintenance provider, which operates 15 social housing contracts from three locations in the North of England. Guy Hewett, at Investec, says JL broadens Mears's footprint in the North West of England and has an order book in excess of £80m. His target price is 332p."

[cambium] 01/10/2010 10:32

Barnet has gone to Lovells too

[rivaldo] 01/10/2010 10:31

I particularly like the deferred consideration element of today's acqusiition, dependent on performance.

Yoyoy, from the press it seems MER and others are still finalising the arrangements in taking over the CNT contracts - I gather there's a legal issue in that clients may not be able to simply novate contracts from CNT to another supplier without those contracts going up for public tender. I'd guess that all bases are being covered before MER (or anyone else) announces that they have formally won the contracts.

I have read however that Lambeth has decided to split its contracts between Mears and Morrison. I'd assume that the hiatus will have to be settled one way or another fairly quickly, otherwise services wil start to suffer.

[turborock] 01/10/2010 08:38

nope, nothing

[yoyoy] 01/10/2010 07:47

nothing further on the ex-Connaught businesses acquired or have I missed it?

[rivaldo] 01/10/2010 07:36

Another earnings-enhancing acquisition....



"Acquisition of Jackson Lloyd Limited ("JL")

Summary of Acquisition
· JL operates social housing maintenance contracts in the North West of England
· Mears will integrate the business immediately and is expected to generate significant cost and efficiency savings
· The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing for the year ending 31 December 2011 following the costs of reorganisation incurred in 2010
· Mears has acquired JL for £2.7m in cash and the repayment of £2.1m of net debt. Additional deferred consideration of up to a maximum of £1.0m is subject to performance criteria. Consideration is being satisfied from the Company's existing debt facilities
· JL has an order book of in excess of £80m

Mears is pleased to announce that it has acquired the entire share capital of JL for an initial cash consideration of £2.7m. JL operates maintenance contracts with customers predominantly in the North West of England. An additional deferred consideration is payable up to a maximum of £1.0m, subject to the achievement of performance criteria linked to contract retention and profitability. The consideration is being satisfied from the Company's existing debt facilities.

For the 15 month period ended 31 March 2010, the unaudited accounts for JL report that the business generated revenues of £38.6m and a loss before tax of £3.8m. The last audited accounts, for the 12 month period to 31 December 2008, reported revenues of £31.5m and a loss before tax of £0.4m. Gross assets as at 31 December 2008 were £8.6m. The business has recently gone through a restructuring whereby overheads have been significantly reduced together with an increased focus on underlying operating margin. The completion balance sheet reports net liabilities in the region of £1.4m including a net debt of £2.1m which was repaid immediately upon acquisition from the Group's existing banking facility.

Mears expects to generate further significant cost and efficiency savings. The Company will focus on delivering a quality service and maximising customer satisfaction which is typically key to enhancing profitability and ensuring contract longevity. The principal benefits of the acquisition are anticipated to arise in 2011 and beyond; it is expected to be earnings neutral for the year ending 31 December 2010 (before the costs of restructure) and earnings enhancing for the year ending 31 December 2011. The Group treats an acquisition with the same level of detailed focus as when mobilising new contracts and this process commences with immediate effect. In addition, the Group's operational support functions will be incorporated into the existing structures of JL. It is anticipated that the mobilisation and restructure will be completed before 31 December 2010 with an anticipated cost of £1.0m.

Commenting, Bob Holt, Chairman of Mears, said:

"The acquisition of the JL business fits comfortably into our social housing division and broadens our footprint in the North West of England. I am delighted to welcome a further 450 employees into the Group. We continue to seek to acquire businesses with the potential to meet the strategic objectives of the Group.""

[rivaldo] 28/9/2010 08:21

Good coverage in the Daily Mail too:



"Mears in green British Gas deal
Daily Mail

Social housing group Mears has landed a contract with British Gas that could see green energy systems installed in tens of thousands of council homes.

The company (up 9.5p at 290p) is aiming to tap into the government's £350m Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) to provide insulation, energy saving boilers and solar panelling to the 500,000 social homes it maintains.
Under the scheme, tenants and landlords can apply for government grants to help them make their homes more fuel efficient."

[beerbandit] 27/9/2010 23:13

Ho Ho Ho sede

[rivaldo] 27/9/2010 18:26

Closed above 300p - hopefully a meaningful sign which will be built upon this week back up to 320p or more.

[rivaldo] 27/9/2010 10:27

Continuing to edge upwards nicely.

[rivaldo] 22/9/2010 14:24

Coverage here - and note that the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target is estimated by the Government to stimulate about £3.2bn of investment by energy suppliers:



"Mears in green British Gas deal
Daily Mail
22 September 2010, 9:43am

Social housing group Mears has landed a contract with British Gas that could see green energy systems installed in tens of thousands of council homes.

The company (up 9.5p at 290p) is aiming to tap into the government's £350m Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) to provide insulation, energy saving boilers and solar panelling to the 500,000 social homes it maintains.

Under the scheme, tenants and landlords can apply for government grants to help them make their homes more fuel efficient."

[rivaldo] 22/9/2010 09:00

Investec have been reading my posts :o))



"Mears added 9.5p to 290p as it agreed a deal with Centrica's British Gas division to install energy saving technology such as solar panels and biomass boilers for 500,000 homes. The move would allow it to tap government funding under carbon-cutting schemes. Investec said:

"We view this as an innovative move that should open up new growth prospects for Mears and set the group apart from the competition."

[rivaldo] 21/9/2010 08:34

As I said, the market likes it - this is a whole new market for MER, across their 500,000 homes and more....

Combined with the £100m of new business picked up from CNT for nothing, MER have lots to look forward to.

[tom.b] 21/9/2010 07:34

Thanks Rivaldo... and today's RNS will also help but IMO it will be another while before the share price price moves to £3 and beyond as I predict.. Investors are concerned that the planned Government Cuts will have an adverse affect - even though it is the opposite for Mears so far. This partnership with British Gas is just one of the many deals that are being done to limit the effects of these 'cutbacks' and will have positive results.

[dnfa1975] 21/9/2010 07:31

the government comprehensive spending review and welfare cuts will knacker this in due course imho

[rivaldo] 21/9/2010 07:18

Excellent RNS today which I imagine the market will like - bidding in tandem with British Gas must give MER a huge leg up for new business - and of course this is a whole new area of "green" contracts to be won:



"Strategic Partnership with British Gas Trading Limited ("British Gas")

Mears announces that it has today entered into a Strategic Partnership ("Partnership") with British Gas to jointly address the challenges of energy efficiency within the social housing sector.

Mears in partnership with British Gas will target funding opportunities under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and the Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) within our existing and growing Social Housing client base. Our aim is to increase Mears' clients' share of British Gas's obligation funding streams, including CERT and CESP, enabling Social Housing Landlords to leverage more value from their capital budgets.

The Partnership will offer a full range of microgeneration installation and maintenance services across the 500,000 Social Homes we currently work with. These include whole house solutions which may include air and ground source heat pumps, bio-mass boilers and solar panels.

Also from today, Mears and British Gas will jointly bid on repair and maintenance contracts in social housing, with British Gas providing energy services and funding to subsidise energy efficiency, renewable and low carbon technology.

By combining the capability and resources of these two industry-leading organisations, the Partnership will create efficiency opportunities for Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords during a time of budget constraint. Social housing tenants should benefit from lower energy bills, warmer homes and better service as a result of better co-ordination which combines existing maintenance services with energy management. Tenants will also receive direct advice and help from Mears staff to ensure the value of these investments is maximised within the home.

British Gas has the highest levels of CESP and CERT obligation of the major energy companies, and brings significant expertise on a full range of microgeneration systems, geared to leveraging funding through Feed-In Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive, when available.

Mears were chosen by British Gas because of its innovative leadership position within the Social Housing sector and its proven tenant centric approach.

Bob Holt, Chairman of Mears, said:

"I am delighted to announce our Partnership with British Gas. This is the first partnership of its kind in the UK, demonstrating Mears' targeted and innovative approach to leadership within the Social Housing space.

"Our close working relationship with British Gas will strengthen our existing relationships with our key customers, as they seek to find cost effective methods of ensuring environmental compliance.

"We believe that this partnership demonstrates our ongoing commitment, clearly stated in our strategy 'to constantly search for new and better ways to support clients and help tenants' and our 'Getting Greener' Campaign.

We will work with British Gas to ensure that the Social Housing Sector generates significant savings and continues to create opportunities for the future.""

[rivaldo] 20/9/2010 14:10

Informative coverage here today (TomB, lots of press coverage in the regionals, but not particularly adding anything AFAICS):



"Gloucestershire firm confirms Connaught 'takeover'
Monday, September 20, 2010, 09:51Comment on this story

Brockworth-based social housing and maintenance supplier the Mears Group has taken on 10 local authority contracts across the UK following the collapse of rival firm Connaughts on September 8.

The contracts are expected to be worth over £100m in total revenue.

Mears used local law firm BPE Solicitors to complete the deal in just one day, ensuring there was continuous support provided to tenants of local authorities across the UK, including ones in London, and the North East.

"We needed to work quickly to ensure the deal was completed, and there was no gap in service to tenants," said Tim Ward, corporate partner at BPE. "We are used to clients wanting to close deals in a hurry, but this is the first time we have completed a deal in such a short timescale.

"The work was further complicated by the various elements making up each contract, which had to be identified before we could proceed."

Mears Group's acquisition of the 10 contracts will see them become possibly the largest social housing maintenance provider in the UK and safeguards the jobs of at least 600 ex-Connaught employees.

"Given the nature of the work we undertake, any gap in the provisions of service to our customers is unacceptable," said Andrew Smith, finance director at Mears Group. "With BPE's help, we completed the deal less than 48 hours after Connaught went into administration, minimising delays and the build-up of a backlog of repairs.""

[tom.b] 19/9/2010 22:56

Any Press articles?...

[melody9999] 15/9/2010 22:37

on tonights local East news - Norwich CC handing out short term contracts (only) to carry out emergency repairs. A few Connaught people picking up work from local contractors. Must be stop-gap measure - whilst Norwich decide what to do - I guess we may be still be in there negotiating.

[tom.b] 15/9/2010 10:12

too good to miss out on at these prices.. don't know why it's in the doldrums

[rivaldo] 15/9/2010 08:09

dnfa75 has been wasting time on his one-liner negativity ever since the share price went down to 230p - let's hope he continues :o))