REG - Mears Grp PLC - Launch of Share Buyback Programme of up to £20m

MearsAnnouncement

22/08/2024 07:01

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RNS Number : 3109B  Mears Group PLC  22 August 2024

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 of 1p each
("Ordinary Shares") (together the 'Fourth Buyback Programme').

During the last 18-months, the Group successfully completed three buyback
programmes, which saw the purchase and cancellation of 17.7m Ordinary Shares
at an average price of 299.7p, representing c. 16.0% of the Group's issued
Ordinary Shares at the start of 2023, being a return of surplus capital of
£53.2m. In addition, over that same period, the Group's Employee Benefit
Trust purchased 5.1m shares at an average price of 330.2p, of which 4.5m
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') to conduct
the Buyback Programme on its behalf from 22 August 2024.  Under these
arrangements, Deutsche Numis and Panmure 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 Fourth 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 Fourth Buyback Programme
will be cancelled.

 

Purchases of Ordinary Shares under the Fourth 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 Fourth Buyback
Programme will be effected under the authority granted by shareholders at the
General Meeting held on 13 June 2024.  The Fourth 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 will monitor the level of liquidity in the issued
Ordinary Shares and may determine that, in order to proceed with the Fourth
Buyback Programme in an effective and timely manner, the Fourth 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                     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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