Mears Share Discussion Threads

[lucy123] 20/8/2021 15:51

Closes at 207p, after 2 auction extensions, 698 UT shares traded at 224p, what’s going on!.

[sphere25] 17/8/2021 15:38

Who done that?

Who done that?

Who caused that big breakout?

Market isn't waiting for anyone.

Still, it pays to watch where the anomalous demand is coming in

One or two good one's more than offset the duff/non-starters.


All imo
DYOR

[sphere25] 16/8/2021 10:23

Significant activity at MER on the back of the results last week. Someone came in for 1m at 185p on the results day and someone has also gobbled up almost 2% of the company at 190p today (1.98m trade at 10:08:57).

It looks like Heronbridge are the sellers. They went from 7% to just under 5% recently, unsure if they want to lob the lot (if they do, a few more need placing after today). Fidelity one of the buyers? They are upping their position quite aggressively.


Market Cap @ 196.5p is £218m
Adjusted profit before tax guidance in the range of GBP23.0-25.5m
Full year average daily net debt expected to be GBP25m

Is it value though?

Highly illiquid share. Chart is range bound, easy to mark out with the psychological 200p being key on the upside.

Continued stalemate on these exchanges (with the market happy to trade in this range) or will these exchanges cause an imbalance to allow the breakout higher?

It is the type of demand for shares that can cause price moves, but it looks a wait and see if Heronbridge have sold what they want to.

All imo
DYOR

[deadly] 12/8/2021 13:21

Good results today; should be going higher:

" · Resilient trading performance and successful transition back to normal commercial mechanisms

· Profitability strengthened towards normal levels in the first half, delivering £11.1m adjusted profit before tax1 (H1 2020: £8.1m loss).

· Excellent cash performance continued with net cash at 30 June 2021 of £47.6m (31 December 2020: £56.9m net cash) and average daily net debt of £8.2m (FY 2020: £97.3m net debt)2

· Good sell-through in Development portfolio with 41unit sales and working capital utilisation down by £10.4m to £15.9m as at 30 June 2021

· Solid pipeline conversion with over £150m of contract wins year-to date"

[saltaire111] 12/5/2021 21:34

Narrative here improving. Long way to go though!

Salty

[deadly] 12/5/2021 08:10

Solid results today

[deadly] 24/3/2021 19:40

Recovering slowly and hopefully surely.

[saltaire111] 19/1/2021 14:02

Goodness me. There’s life in the old dog yet...

[sunshine today] 06/1/2021 05:03

A PURE JIM SLATER STOCK


Good morning..

Did you know the world has gone Blockchain crazy .

Did you know in the U.K. it’s just about impossible to invest in a listed blockchain company, ARGO BLOCKCHAIN is , I think, the only pure play and it’s totally dependent on the price of Bitcoin. ( no chance of stable EPS)

Did you know on Monday the USA bank regulator give the thumbs up to Blockchain.

One other tiny company has the chance to become a Zulu stock ( IT IS NOT ONE TODAY BY A MILE)

TRD. £11M market cap, no debt, and £4M cash. ( BAAS) Blockchain as a service.

Stratis / Microsoft/ TRD

I hope to join you here in 3 years time, with a bit of luck thrown in .

Happy new year.

[buffettjnr] 06/1/2021 04:48

Looks like it’s breaking out...

[sphere25] 10/11/2020 17:30

Housing and social care provider Mears (MER) has agreed to sell its land and planning services specialist TerraQuest for £72m, which Liberum says is a lower multiple than expected.

Analyst Joe Brent retained his ‘hold’ recommendation but increased his target price from 115p to 150p. The shares rose 5.5% to 153p yesterday.

He said the conditional agreement to sell TerraQuest for £72m was a ‘higher price but lower multiple than we had expected’.

‘It is in line with the strategy and will help Mears to focus but highlights the low margins in housing management. We now expect net cash at the year end, noting other liabilities.’

Brent said the disposal was ‘unsurprisingly’ dilutive and he reduced full year 2021 earnings per share by 16%.

[essentialinvestor] 06/11/2020 16:08

Sphere, it is a dopamine hit when you nail a trade like that.


My Dad founded London Care Plc, so know the sector well.


Have not looked at Mears in many a moon.

Like MTO, it once traded as a growth stock,

[saltaire111] 06/11/2020 16:06

I thought this was a bargain, yielding 6%, at £3.10 a share.

How wrong could I get!

Nice to welcome back a few GBP I’d lost on this one.

Salty

[sphere25] 06/11/2020 12:50

Thank you EssentialInvestor.

Nice when we can all nail one. Market doesn't give them so easy - plenty of non-starters too!

Nature of the trading arena :-)

[essentialinvestor] 06/11/2020 12:25

Sphere, very nicely traded!, well done.

[abarclay] 06/11/2020 10:54

there was no leak yeaterday

[skinny] 06/11/2020 08:56

I haven't held these since the early 2000s - well done to anyone who was privy to the info!

[sphere25] 06/11/2020 08:50

Thank you ScepticalInvestor.

30% move higher today. Well done if you caught this move. I'm always a seller into spikes like this being short term orientated.

Have to be happy to catch a move like that but it also shows the ugly side of the market. I highly doubt any action will be taken against those buying big yesterday and recents days.

Nonetheless, onto the next one and who will next catch a bid or some corporate activity? The amount of activity recently has been amazing, almost every day you have a bid or acquisition of some sort.

Last night into the closing auction RSA, today SPO, UANC and PFD

[abarclay] 06/11/2020 08:09

mmm in auction

[scepticalinvestor] 06/11/2020 07:56

Well done sphere

[abarclay] 06/11/2020 07:55

MER

markrt cap £130m, just sold non core bit for £72m!!!!!

[abarclay] 06/11/2020 07:46

WOW


· The Buyer will acquire the entire issued share capital of TerraQuest for a maximum valuation of £72.0m1. The consideration is as follows:

o minimum cash proceeds are expected to be £61.8 million2;

o up to a further £5.0 million in cash, payable subject to the performance of TerraQuest in the financial year to 31 December 2021; and

o £3.2 million in interest bearing loan notes3 together with ordinary shares equating to a 6.2 per cent. of the share capital of the Buyer's holding company, providing the potential for further value to Shareholders.

· Following the Disposal Mears will:

o be solely focused on its core proposition as a trusted provider of specialist housing solutions to central and local government; and

o have a significantly strengthened balance sheet, where unaudited pro forma net debt as at 30 June 2020 would have been £10.8 million4 (actual net debt 30 June 2020: £62.4 million).

· Mears has built a significant asset through the TerraQuest business since 2009, including the contract to re-develop and operate the National Planning Portal - a web-based platform which processes c.90% of all planning applications in England & Wales. In the financial year ended 31 December 2019, the TerraQuest Group generated revenues of £20.9 million and a profit before tax of £4.9 million.

· Trading across the Continuing Group in the period since 30 June 2020 has been in line with the Board's expectations. The Board keeps under close review the changing COVID-19 backdrop. Mears continues to benefit from the supportive financial arrangements agreed with clients through the first half of this year. Given this, and the relative proximity of the year end, the Board expects that the recently implemented England-wide lockdown restrictions and the restrictions in Scotland will not have a materially adverse impact on performance in 2020. The Group intends to make a scheduled Q4 trading update in due course.

· The Group also announces that to support the Class 1 working capital exercise it has undertaken in conjunction with the Disposal, and in recognition of the impact of Covid-19, it has entered into an amendment of its Revolving Credit Facility to provide materially greater covenant headroom as at 31 December 2020 and 30 June 2021 .

· The Disposal is conditional upon the approval of Mears Shareholders and the consent of TerraQuest's joint venture partner MHCLG; completion of the Disposal is expected to occur in early December 2020.

· The Board believes the Disposal is in the best interests of Shareholders as a whole a nd will be unanimously recommending in the circular to Shareholders that they vote in favour of the Disposal.






200p today?

[sphere25] 06/11/2020 07:43

Well, there we go. Talk about suspicious trades and price action. Clearly folk knew about this sale and the positive impact on the financial strength of the company.Also note:"the Board expects that the recently implemented England-wide lockdown restrictions and the restrictions in Scotland will not have a materially adverse impact on performance in 2020. The Group intends to make a scheduled Q4 trading update in due course. "