Mears Share Discussion Threads

[davewheelershed] 05/4/2004 11:18

Fair enough Hosede, But we are up today. Again. All without The IC paying homage....

200p in 3 months?

DW(S)

[hosede] 05/4/2004 11:16

Dave this is surely one of the very few that Dr.Death (MWM) has got right! I find the anouncement that Bob Holt plans to raise 50 m extremely disappointing. Our stakes will be diluted as I'm sure he doesn't mean a rights issue - if he had he would have said so - some bloody institutions will get a stake at a discount - sickening

[bwgof] 31/3/2004 16:01

Davewheelershed - Thanks for your post 42 - Have been out most of the day - nice to see MER up 4% today following yesterday's modest gain on very good results. Cheers - b

[marko68085] 31/3/2004 15:04

All time high achieved and broken well over the 150p barrier too, Get in the MER!

[davewheelershed] 31/3/2004 14:50

Oops. Meant end of April... Apologies! nd of March would be nice though... ;-)

DW(s)

[davewheelershed] 31/3/2004 14:43

Hello Marko, nice to talk to someone else, Thought I was going mad!

I would say 175 end of march and 200p in six months.

Very nice rise so far though.

DW(S)

[marko68085] 31/3/2004 14:39

Top man MWM, I followed him on IDN a while back and also WIE recently.

Looking for 170+ by the end of April.

What are your targets dave?

[davewheelershed] 31/3/2004 14:12

Someone else agrees with me... Mark Watson Mitchell.

Mears Group - strong visibility of future earnings
Yesterday Bob Holt's Mears Group (MER), the support services company, announced its results for the year ended 31st December 2003. Yet again they were better than the market was going for and yet again it was another set of record results.

Turnover was up 42.4% to £112.3 million, whilst profit before tax and the amortisation of goodwill increased by 39.2% to £5.24 million. Earnings before amortisation of goodwill were up 35.1% at 6.47p per share. The final dividend of 1p per share helped to make a total dividend for the year of 1.35p per share, a 35% increase.

The Scots influence of Finance Director David Robertson shone through during the last year. The Group's excellent cash management resulted in the generation of £4.7 million of positive cash inflow from operating activities in the period. At the end of the year the Group had cash in the bank of £1.9 million after spending £5.4 million on acquisitions in 2003

The Group continues to deliver the goods. Since it came to AIM in 1996 Mears has shown an annual compound growth rate of 43%. What is becoming even more impressive about the Group is the basic business model. It is now securing major contracts from local authorities across the UK and based upon prescribed profit levels. The order book has increased by £250 million in the last year and now stands at a thumping £550 million, stretching up to ten years out. Some £300 million of that order book is on set profit levels agreed with the authorities.

I am looking for the Group to make about £6.5 million of pre-tax profits this current year. Mears is now getting to a size where it will become a largely institutionally held stock. They will certainly be ready to back Holt when he seeks funds for any sizeable acquisition, should he ever identify one good enough and at a price attractive enough to whet his corporate appetite.

Although its shares are already highly rated, I do believe that they can go a great deal higher than the current 152p. Hold very tight.

[davewheelershed] 31/3/2004 14:02

Well, up 4p now. Looking like a nice safe defensive stock given the order book (Which could go as high as a Billion!) with built in growth and earnings. It really is a no - brainer.

DW(S)

[marko68085] 31/3/2004 10:39

It is potentially excellent news Mr Shed.

I do hope they are going to buy a tech development firm though!

Up again today, so someone else likes the news too.

[davewheelershed] 30/3/2004 17:18

HELLO!!!!!!!! Where is everyone?

Maybe this will drag people away from the jam tomorrow techs!!!


Mears may raise 50 mln stg to make major acquisition
LONDON (AFX) - Mears Group PLC could raise up to 50 mln stg to make a major
acquisition, chairman Bob Holt told AFX News.

The group, which provides essential support services to the social housing
sector, is in talks with a number of parties regarding acquisition
opportunities.

'We are always in discussions and our favoured target has annual revenues of
between 20-30 mln stg,' Holt said.
Mears reported a pretax profit for 2003 of 5.24 mln, up 39 pct and ahead of
market forecasts.

It has an order book of 550 mln stg, up from 300 mln in the previous year.

Following the result, Arbuthnot increased its year to December 2004 pretax
profit forecast on the group to 6.4 mln stg from 5.9 mln and for the ensuing
year it now looks for 7.9 mln instead of 7.0 mln.

He has also published new forecasts for 2006 and 2007 - 9.4 mln and 10.9 mln
respectively.

At 15.19 shares in Mears were up 1-1/2 pence at 151.

[davewheelershed] 30/3/2004 08:18

Up 2.5p now. Looks like we are not going to get shaken out after all! Yeah right!

DW

[marko68085] 30/3/2004 07:55

Fantastic results, Backing up the chart I posted on 26th March.

When will I learn that it isnt too late to get in to a stock!?!

Look to where is can go rather then where is has come from etc etc

Well done all that are in

Marko

[bwgof] 30/3/2004 07:40

Hi pinthetail - You may be right about 2p down today - But this time next year?? - This is a company growing all the time and I am staying longterm (maybe a little profit taking along the way) - I only wish all the reports by Chairmen were as readable as Bob Holt's and were as positive!!. It would be nice to see MER climb above 150p today and stay there. Cheers to all - b

[pinthetail] 30/3/2004 07:20

Looks like the Mail was right. Results exceed ALL expectations.

Probably down 2p then today! ;-)

Dave

[the whirling dervish] 29/3/2004 08:32

Great start to the week.

I love the Mail!

TWD

[the whirling dervish] 29/3/2004 08:31

Great start to the week.

I love the Mail!

TWD

[davewheelershed] 27/3/2004 19:52

AND.... The daily mail says people are buying in ahead of expected good results... you dont say....

Either way, all good press...

DW

[davewheelershed] 27/3/2004 14:43

FYI, Fingers xxd has posted his thoughts on MER on the FAR3 thread. I like his technical analysis, not one of my strongest areas...

Cool

DW

[davewheelershed] 26/3/2004 13:38

Thanks for that bwgof, most detailed... typos excused!

As I said, not long now. Speculation will come to an end on tuesday.

Cheers

DW(S)

[cockneyrebel] 26/3/2004 13:16

H1 eps repeated for the whole year could see eps of 6.7p for the year, well ahead. That would mean upgrades to next years eps and scope for MER to beat again as they always seem to do.

A very strong 5 years earnings growth record, a PEG of 0.5 or so - that's cheap for such consistent strong earnings growth.

CR

[bwgof] 26/3/2004 12:21

DWS - Not sure about RNS - but have had date (30March) marked for Mears results for sometime. Just went to their website to confirm it and thats when I noted it is timed for 0710 - If you want to know their Next annual report is due on 04May - AGM for next annual report 02June - followed by Next interim announcement 31August2004 - Dates taken from their "Mears Investor" Quarter 1, 2004 - The headline reads "Internal Target set for 20% growth" other snippets "following the trading statement, press comment indicated that when they are published in April, results for 2003 are expected to come out at the top end of a range of forecasts. The consensus of City analysts is for £5.15m of pre-tax profits and earnings per share of 6.3p (both figures before amortisation of goodwill)" Also "Finance Director David Robertson revealed that the total order book has risen from £400m to £450m in the period since the interim results were published in September. This meant that the consensus turnover forecast of £145m for the year to end December 2004, was "in the bag" By the end of March the order book could be substantially more, he said." As I said above taken from Mears Investor. If you hold shares in MER get put on their mailing list for info - I hope the above helps, I am no computer wizard - so excuse any obvious typing errors!! - Cheers - b

[davewheelershed] 26/3/2004 11:35

Cheers bwgof... No RNS though... what can we read into that? Anything???

DW