Mears warns investors following post-Grenfell slowdown in opportunities

Speaking to Inside Housing this morning, Alan Long, executive director of Mears, said the latest update was a result of fewer tendering opportunities than there would be in a normal year.

He said: “It’s been a quieter year than normal for tender opportunities, with fewer coming through than would normally be the case by this point in the year.

“Our pipeline is already picking up quite a lot, but it’s coming too late to help our numbers for this year.”

He said the Grenfell tragedy was “the only obvious point we can see” to explain the reduction in opportunity.

Housing associations and councils scrambled to assess and remove cladding as well as carry out other fire safety measures after the fire, which killed at least 71 in June.

The government has not offered any additional cash for this work, and some social landlords have admitted cutting back on planned repairs to make room in their budgets.

Mears’ trading update said its care division “remains in line with expectations” and should deliver a profit.

In a statement to investors, David Miles, chief executive of Mears, said: “I do not wish to gloss over our 2017 performance and I understand the importance of delivering against our financial targets in the short term.

“While some of the short-term challenges in housing could not have been anticipated, it is frustrating that a number of other opportunities that could have helped mitigate these challenges did not develop quickly enough.

“Nonetheless, I am pleased with the progress made over the past year across the entire Mears business and on a range of important indictors.

“I am particularly excited at the prospects for Mears over a medium-term time horizon and the management team is focused on the quantum of bidding opportunities currently in the pipeline.”