Mears Share Discussion Threads

[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 :-)

[rivaldo] 25/6/2010 17:12

Bleedin' ell - go out for the afternoon and see what happens! Bang goes most of my profits here. Can't believe any effect would be serious on MER, and the last para of CNT's RNS says it all anyway about future prospects.

[cwa1] 25/6/2010 16:24

Thanks chrisf

[cwa1] 25/6/2010 16:23

Grabbed a handful in the low 240's. Hope it's not a big mistake :-(

[chrisfoster] 25/6/2010 16:21

Checkout RNS on rival CNT:

Connaught has carried out a detailed analysis of its business in the lead up to
and following the Emergency Budget. The company has identified 31 contracts
within its Social Housing division where a proportion of the value relating to
capital expenditure has been deferred. This will impact revenue by around
GBP80m and EBITA by GBP13m in the current financial year. If this were to
continue we anticipate a reduction of revenue by GBP120m and EBITA by GBP16m for
financial year 2011. As a result we expect a one-off impact to our cash
conversion rate, reducing to around 40% this financial year.

The medium-term outlook for the business remains strong. As previously
indicated the company is undertaking a cost reduction programme. This is
expected to yield savings of at least GBP25m for financial year 2012. We have a
record bid pipeline of GBP5.3bn reflecting the trend towards larger, longer-term
contracts as our customers seek to address their budgetary restrictions.
Connaught is ideally placed to meet the emerging requirements of this market.

[chrisfoster] 25/6/2010 16:21

duplicated...

[cwa1] 25/6/2010 16:12

What's up(or down) here? Wondering if this is a good re-entry price or if some bad news is in the offing...

[rivaldo] 24/6/2010 13:37

RNS out - good news. MER has a new major shareholder above 3%, Breeden European Partners with 2.56m shares:

[cornishman33] 19/6/2010 10:29

mdrans1 - 18 Jun'10 - 16:24 - 1420 of 1421

2 buys of 1,600,000 and one of 16,000,000 !!!!!!! ?


The 16,000,000 purchase has now been deleted. Presumably it was simple human error with an extra '0' added to one of the 1.6m buys.

[melody9999] 18/6/2010 21:29

triple witching day today I think md

[mdrans1] 18/6/2010 16:24

2 buys of 1,600,000 and one of 16,000,000 !!!!!!! ?

[rivaldo] 09/6/2010 11:14

"Panmure Gordon has...a buy and 330p target for Mears"

[lucky_lady] 09/6/2010 08:22

Well I am back in today after that statement.

[rivaldo] 09/6/2010 07:13

The AGM statement today could hardly be any better:

"Mears issued its Interim Management Statement ("IMS") on 11 May 2010 and is
pleased to report that the trends referred to in the IMS are continuing which
are summarised from the IMS as follows;

· Continued strong trading across all the Group's divisions;
· Over GBP500 million of new contract awards in Social Housing;
· 9 new contract awards in domiciliary care;
· Integration of the Supporta acquisition is well advanced.

IMS Comment on Trading
Mears is continuing to deliver strong trading across all divisions.

Since publication of our final results on 9 March 2010 for the year to 31
December 2009, we have announced contract wins of over GBP500 million in Social Housing and a bid pipeline which still remains in excess of GBP3 billion. The order book currently stands at GBP2.5 billion with secured revenues of 91% of consensus forecast for the current year and 77% for 2011.

IMS Comment on Outlook
Mears' two growth markets of Social Housing and Domiciliary Care, which account for approximately 90 per cent of Group revenues, are defensive sectors where spend is predominantly non-discretionary and cash generation is robust. Given the Group's public sector client base, Mears is substantially immune to bad debts and our customer work patterns and payment terms have remained on
schedule.

Mears is well positioned to benefit from an active contract bidding market and
remains confident in the prospects for the future growth of the Group."

[rivaldo] 04/6/2010 07:10

Good to see MER rising back towards the highs.