Mears Group achieved record annual revenue as the provider of services to UK social housing and care sectors secured new contract wins.

The company reported revenue of £898.2m in the year through December 2013, up 32% on the previous year, which helped lift pre-tax profit by 26% to £36.6m.

The group won contracts in excess of £500m, including social housing awards of £420m and care awards of £95m.

The order book stood at 33.8bn, unchanged from the previous year.

During the period, the firm sold its Mechanical and Electrical business in order to focus solely on social housing and care. The loss on the disposal from the business came to £18.5m, in line with expectations.

Net debt at the end of the period stood at £0.5m, down from £12.4m in 2012.

"I am delighted with the progress Mears has made in 2013. Revenue visibility, order book and the bid pipeline all remain strong," said Chief Executive David Miles.

"Since the turn of the year, trading remains in line with expectations."

The dividend was raised by 10% to 8.8p per share.

Shares fell 1.605 to 493p at 10:47 on Tuesday.

RD

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