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UPDATE 2-Mears gets 70 mln stg of new contracts

Mon Jul 6, 2009 7:30am EDT

Stocks

   

* Says has options to increase the contracts to 90 mln stg

* Says total contracts this year is 175 mln stg

* Shares up 0.4 pct (Adds broker comments, share movement)

July 6 (Reuters) - British social housing provider Mears Group Plc (MERG.L) said on Monday it received a further 70 million pounds ($114 million) of new contracts to carry out social housing repairs and maintenance services.

The contracts to its social housing and domiciliary care divisions take the total of contracts in the current year to 175 million pounds, the company said.

"Mears is not experiencing and does not anticipate a slowdown in either opportunities to grow or in public sector spending in our two primary offerings...," Chief Executive Bob Holt said in a statement.

Mears expects other significant contracts in the "not too distant future", Holt said.

The company said its social housing division continued to build substantial organic growth and its care division had doubled revenue and profit since it entered the market two years ago.

The social housing and domiciliary care markets account for 80 percent of Mears' revenue.

The company said its social housing unit was awarded 64 million pounds of new contracts, with options for a further 20 million pounds, while its domiciliary care division received a further 6 million pounds of new contracts.

Brokerage Charles Stanley said these contract wins underline the strong growth opportunities within both of Mears' key business divisions and highlight the excellent value that the shares present at current levels.

Mears shares were up 0.4 percent at 227 pence at 1107 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.

($1=.6142 Pound) (Reporting by Balachander Surianarayanan in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Jarshad Kakkrakandy)



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