Mears Group increased its pre-tax profit by 37% in 2024 to £64.1m (2023: £46.9m). Revenue increased by 4% to £1,133m (2023: £1,089m). Revenue was roughly 50/50 split between housing maintenance work and housing management.
Mears manages and maintains around 450,000 homes across the UK and works predominantly for central and local government clients.
One of the highlights of the year was securing a new contract with North Lanarkshire Council contract for a minimum of eight years and with an expected annual revenue of £125m. The contract covers reactive and planned maintenance, compliance and gas servicing for 37,000 homes and 1,200 council buildings.
Later in the year, Mears secured an emergency contract with Moat to deliver responsive and voids maintenance services, covering 22,000 homes in the southeast of England. This 18-month contract has an estimated value of £12m.
Chief executive Lucas Critchley said of the results: “I am pleased to report on another strong year for the group. The strategic update completed during the period has provided fresh impetus, refining our approach to maximise the addressable opportunity. A strong period of contract retention has bolstered the order book and provides improved revenue visibility over the medium term.”
Critchley said that the new build safety regime and the bureaucracy that it entails presents one of these addressable opportunities for Mears.
“We intend to become leaders in compliance and develop a full asset management capability,” he said. “The social housing sector, despite its vital role, faces a multitude of challenges. A lack of affordable housing and declining government funding have led to inconsistent asset investment and have contributed to a deteriorating stock condition. Recent and proposed regulatory amendments focusing on building safety, compliance and quality standards place greater financial and reputational risk upon registered providers. The sector traditionally has a fragmented approach to this area, which can lead to an inconsistent service and customer experience, and also impedes data capture, making it difficult to record, analyse, and use the data effectively. Mears recognises these challenges and the limitations of the current approach. Our proposed solution is to develop a fully integrated housing compliance and asset management strategy and address these issues head-on. Mears has a clear vision for this strategic plan, recognising the need to invest additional resources in people and technology.”
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