Mears Group
PLC
("Mears", the "Group", or the
"Company")
Launch of Share Buyback
Programme of up to £20m
Mears (LSE: MER) announces that the
Board has approved an additional return of surplus capital of up to
£20 million to shareholders to be implemented through a new share
buyback programme of Mears' ordinary shares (the 'Third Buyback
Programme').
During the course of 2023, the Group
successfully completed two buyback programmes, which saw the
purchase and cancellation of 12.2m Ordinary shares of 1p each at an
average price of 272.7p, representing c11.0% of the Group's issued
share capital at the start of the 2023 year, a return of surplus
capital of £33.2m. In addition, over the course of 2023, the
Group's Employee Benefit Trust purchased 1.7m shares at an average
price of 276.7p which will be utilised in the future to settle
share-based employee remuneration reducing the dilutive impact of
such instruments.
Mears has entered into
non-discretionary arrangements with Deutsche Numis Securities
Limited ('Numis') and Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited ('Panmure
Gordon') to conduct the Buyback Programme on its behalf from 20
February 2024. Under these arrangements, Numis and Panmure
Gordon will make trading decisions in relation to the buyback of
the company's ordinary shares independently of the Group within the
programme terms and pre-set parameters.
The purpose of this Third Buyback
Programme is to return additional surplus capital to shareholders
and reduce the Group's share capital. As such, all ordinary
shares repurchased by the Group under this Third Buyback Programme
will be cancelled.
Share purchases under the New
Buyback Programme will take place in open market transactions and
may be made from time to time depending on market conditions, share
price and trading volumes. The New Buyback Programme will be
effected under the authority granted by shareholders at the General
Meeting held on 12 February 2024. The Buyback Programme will
be conducted within the parameters prescribed by the Market Abuse
Regulation 596/2014 and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU)
2016/1052 (also as in force in the UK, from time to time,
including, where relevant, pursuant to the UK's European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018 and the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit)
Regulations 2019) as well as applicable laws and the regulations of
the UK Financial Conduct Authority (including Chapter 12 of the
Listing Rules).
The joint brokers, Deutsche Numis
and Panmure Gordon, will monitor the level of liquidity in the
issued Ordinary Shares and may determine that, in order to proceed
with the New Buyback Programme in an effective and timely manner,
the New Buyback Programme may on any given trading day exceed 25
per cent but remain below 50 per cent of the average daily trading
volume. Should this occur, the Group may not benefit from the
exemption contained in Article 5(1) in MAR.
Any repurchase of shares will be
announced no later than 7:30 a.m. on the business day following the
calendar day on which the repurchase occurred.
For
further information, contact:
Mears Group PLC
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Tel: +44(0)1452 634 600
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Andrew Smith
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Deutsche Numis
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Tel: +44(0)207 260 1000
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Julian Cater
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Kevin Cruickshank
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Panmure Gordon
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Tel: +44(0)207 886 2500
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Tom Scrivens
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James Sinclair-Ford
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About Mears
Mears is the leading provider of
services to the Affordable Housing sector, providing a range of
services to individuals within their homes. We manage and maintain
around 450,000 homes across the UK and work predominantly with
Central Government and Local Government typically through long-term
contracts. We equally consider the residents of the homes that we
manage and maintain to be our customers, and we take pride in the
high levels of customer satisfaction that we achieve.
Mears currently employs around 5,500
people and provides services in every region of the UK. In
partnership with our Housing clients, we provide property
management and maintenance services. Mears has extended its
activities to provide broader housing solutions to solve the
challenge posed by the lack of affordable housing and to provide
accommodation and support for the most vulnerable.
We focus on long-term outcomes for
people rather than short-term solutions and invest in innovations
that have a positive impact on people's quality of life and on
their communities' social, economic, and environmental wellbeing.
Our innovative approaches and market leading positions are intended
to create value for our customers and the people they serve while
also driving sustainable financial returns for our providers of
capital, especially our shareholders.