Mears Share Discussion Threads

[silmanesque] 31/1/2013 11:53

Is it possible that Peel Hunt, Canaccord Genuity, Investec etc in raising their expectations from hold to buy and forecasting higher target prices have not taken in to account what Mears have actually bought at Morrison FS.
Morrison were loss making, and I suspect that the depth of the black hole may not be understood yet.
I don't know, of course, but there are similarities to Connaught and Rok here.
I will not be adding them to my portfolio for at least another 6 to 9 months when they have had time to ascertain what sort of a tiger they have by the tail!

[spacecake] 22/1/2013 11:41

Thanks to the banks social housing is growing and a quick look at job centre plus will find lots of vacancies for carers ... !!!

[parttime] 19/1/2013 15:32

Good luck Space,

I'm in, looks like a solid company and worthy for a re-rating over the next 12 months.

Better return than cash left in the bank, imo..

[spacecake] 16/1/2013 10:56

IC

Social housing and domiciliary care specialist Mears Group (MER) says trading remains solid and it has grown its order book from £2.6bn to £3.8bn, with 88 per cent of consensus forecast revenues for 2013 in the bag already. Buy.

[spacecake] 15/1/2013 20:42

Nice update today... steady progress with increasing order book, upbeat on full year, robust pipeline and steadies the Morrisons ship.

[spacecake] 15/11/2012 16:43

Volume increasing and still on the up.

[spacecake] 12/11/2012 16:46

up on a down day... again!

[spacecake] 09/11/2012 14:10

Steady progress from the company and the share price.

[turborock] 08/11/2012 23:55

Not a huge increase from here

[spacecake] 08/11/2012 23:02

Mears Group (LON: MER)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by analysts at Investec in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday. They currently have a $5.20 (325 GBX) price target on the stock.

[hyden] 04/9/2012 19:20

Near to it's twelve month highs now. It would be nice to see it take out 290 this week. :-)

[spacecake] 04/9/2012 18:28

Its ticking up even on a down day for the market - nice

[spacecake] 25/8/2012 15:34

Tipped in IC - solid growth stock.

[spacecake] 16/8/2012 21:02

Sounds like the social care bill is making progress...

[spacecake] 14/8/2012 10:23

Thanks Steve, thats a very useful link.

Investec Buy recco 283p target

[steve243] 14/8/2012 09:29

A good audio interview with CEO, David Miles -

[spacecake] 14/8/2012 08:58

Interims today.. divi up 7%

Mears Group Plc. (MER), which operates low-income housing for the U.K. government, said it intends to make more acquisitions to broaden its social care business by the end of the year.

"Our aspirations are to make acquisitions in mobility, nursing, and physiotherapy," Chief Executive Officer David Miles said in a phone interview today. As well as organically growing existing assets, the company expects the additional services, which require higher expertise, to raise operating margins, he said.

Mears reported group sales of 307.2 million pounds ($482.5 million) in the six months to June, up 5 percent from a year earlier, according to a regulatory statement. Sales in its care division increased 8 percent to 56.1 million pounds.

Miles said there are risks in expanding into a politically led market. The government's care and support White Paper introduced in July has "good ideas" but needs clearer thinking on funding, according to Miles. Mears expects a review of the bill within three years, he said.

"My main concern is the demographic time-bomb in care, budgets are growing but that is not in line with the number of people who are living longer," Miles said. "A significant funding increase will be required to deliver high quality care."

Shares rose 2.1 percent, the most in three weeks, to 266 pence as of 8.30 a.m in London trading. The company announced an interim dividend of 2.3 pence per share payable Nov. 5, according to the regulatory statement.

Mears provides over 160,000 hours of care to 20,000 people each week, according to the statement. It offers maintenance and repairs services covering more than 10 percent of U.K. social housing.

[turborock] 14/5/2012 15:42

nice retrace on an awful day.

[edale] 27/4/2012 13:49

Good increase today probably as a result of people reading the annual report. A lot of negative comment on this board over the last couple of years associated with the aftermath of the banking crisis and likely cut backs on local authority spending but Mears look to have come through it well with increases across the board. The five year performance and forward order books both strong in what has been a difficult period. Still looks a sound solid investment.

[spacecake] 23/3/2012 07:13

The Company was notified on 22 March 2012 that Robert (Bob) Holt, Chairman of Mears, had exercised share options over 1,500,000 ordinary shares of one pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") on 22 March 2012.

Subsequently, on 22 March 2012, Mr Holt sold 2,000,000 Ordinary Shares each at a price of 250 pence per share.

Following this disposal, Mr Holt holds no Ordinary Shares and has an interest in share options under the SIP over 1,000,000 Ordinary Shares in the Company.

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[skinny] 20/3/2012 15:43

Investec reiterates it's Buy TP 283p

Collins Stewart reiterates it's Buy TP 325p

Peel Hunt reiterates it's Buy TP 275p

Panmure Gordon reiterates it's Hold TP 250p

Jefferies International reiterates it's Buy TP 310p

N+1 Brewin reiterates it's Add TP 275p

Espirito Santo Execution Noble reiterates Neutral TP 260p

[spacecake] 20/3/2012 09:22

Yes, would expect to see some broker upgrades coming through on the back of the strong order book and visibility. Nice to see the earnings growth passing through to dividends.

[edale] 20/3/2012 07:44

Great set of results this morning with strong forward order book for the next two years. Remains a good solid company.

[spacecake] 26/1/2012 16:46

Business and environmental groups have welcomed the Court of Appeal's decision to uphold a ruling that government cuts to household solar subsidies are illegal.

Three judges ruled on Wednesday that parliament did not have the power to change "with such a retrospective effect" the "feed-in tariffs" paid to homes, businesses and communities for generating small-scale renewable electricity.

The government must now pay the solar industry's legal costs. It will also have to pay its original higher subsidy for customers who install panels between mid-December and early March – a cost that could eventually run into tens of millions of pounds.

The number of installations soared 10-fold between the announcement in late October and the cut-off point on December 12, rising from 220 a day to 2,376 a day, according to new figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The total for the six-week period of 102,183 was not far short of the 127,474 installed in the previous 18 months.

Caroline Flint, shadow energy secretary, described the uptake as a "gold rush".

"The government has wasted time and money fighting the High Court ruling and created huge uncertainty, putting thousands of jobs in renewable energy at risk," said Ms Flint.

The industry employs an estimated 29,000 people.

The decision is a fresh embarrassment for Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, who is already under pressure over allegations that he asked his wife to take speeding penalty points for him several years ago.

The verdict means solar subsidies will be halved from March 3 – giving investors a three-month delay before the cuts come in.

The High Court ruled last month that ministers had acted illegally by moving rapidly to cut the money paid to anyone fitting a small solar system from 43.3p to 21p per kilowatt hour.

A government consultation was due to end on December 23 – nearly two weeks after the December 12 cut-off date. As a result, the industry was given only six weeks' notice that its support would be slashed.

John Cridland, director-general of the CBI employers' group, which has been scathing about the way the announcement was handled, said the "high-growth sector" needed much greater certainty in the future.

The case was brought by Friends of the Earth, the environmental group, and the Solarcentury and HomeSun solar companies. Daniel Green, chief executive of HomeSun, said the campaign had been backed from "everybody from the National Trust to the Church of England".

A DECC spokeswoman said the government was still "considering our options" – prompting speculation that it could seek to lodge a second appeal with the Supreme Court.

There may now be a renewed rush to install panels before March 3, although the statutory organisation Consumer Focus pointed out that installation and registration typically took four weeks.

[mdrans1] 13/1/2012 10:14

Mears is in Shares Magazine again this week. The are one of the 10 "great value stocks" featured in their cover story "Top names to buy at knock-down prices."