REG - Mears Grp PLC - Launch of Share Buyback Programme of up to £18m

MearsAnnouncement

30/01/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 1885V  Mears Group PLC  30 January 2025

Mears Group PLC

("Mears", the "Group", or the "Company")

Launch of Share Buyback Programme of up to £18m

 

Mears (LSE: MER) announces that the Board has approved an additional return of
surplus capital of up to £18 million to shareholders to be implemented
through a new share buyback programme of Mears' ordinary shares of 1p each
("Ordinary Shares") (together the 'Fifth Buyback Programme').

 

This New Buyback Programme will take place within the limitations of the
authority granted to the Board of Mears Group PLC at its Annual General
Meeting, held on 13 June 2024, pursuant to which the maximum number of
Ordinary Shares to be bought back by Mears is 9,684,776.  Following the
completion of the fourth buyback programme on 18 November 2024, a total of
5,364,957 Ordinary Shares have been purchased and cancelled under this
authority, leaving a limit on the remaining authority of 4,319,819 Ordinary
Shares.

 

The Board expects to see continued strong trading performance in FY25. With
share purchase authorities obtained at the June 2024 AGM expected to be fully
utilised in completing the Fifth Buyback Programme, the Board intends to seek
shareholder approval for additional authority to purchase Ordinary Shares and
expects to issue a Notice of General Meeting in due course. This will provide
the Board with sufficient flexibility in delivering against its capital
allocation strategy.

 

Since May 2023, the Group has successfully completed four buyback programmes,
which saw the purchase and cancellation of 23.1m Ordinary Shares at an average
price of 317p, representing c. 21% of the Group's issued Ordinary Shares at
the start of 2023, being a return of surplus capital of £73.2m. In addition,
over that same period, the Group's Employee Benefit Trust purchased 5.1m
Ordinary Shares at an average price of 330p, of which 4.5m Ordinary Shares
remain held at this time, and 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 Numis Securities
Limited ('Deutsche Numis') and Panmure Liberum Limited ('Panmure Liberum') to
conduct the Fifth Buyback Programme on its behalf from 30 January 2025.
Under these arrangements, Deutsche Numis and Panmure Liberum will make trading
decisions in relation to the buyback of the Company's Ordinary Shares
independently of the Group within the programme's terms and pre-set
parameters.

 

The purpose of this Fifth 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 Fifth Buyback Programme
will be cancelled.

 

Purchases of Ordinary Shares under the Fifth 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 Fifth 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).

 

Deutsche Numis and Panmure Liberum will monitor the level of liquidity in the
issued Ordinary Shares and may determine that, in order to proceed with the
Fifth Buyback Programme in an effective and timely manner, the Fifth 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 Ordinary 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                     Tel: +44(0)1452 634 600
 Andrew Smith
 Lucas Critchley

 Deutsche Numis                      Tel: +44(0)207 260 1000
 Julian Cater
 Kevin Cruickshank

 Panmure Liberum                     Tel: +44(0)20 3100 2000
 Tom Scrivens
 James Sinclair-Ford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Mears

Mears is a leading provider of services to the 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 over 5,000 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.

 

 

 

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