Gloucester-based Mears Group, which specialises in social housing and care, finished the year strongly and now expects revenues to be in excess of £870 million.

David Miles, CEO of Mears Group, said:

"2021 has been a very strong year for the Group, characterised by high levels of operational delivery and customer service, a robust cash position and trading outperformance."

The Group revenues are up £63 million on the £806 million reported in 2020. Pre-tax profits are expected to be in the region of £25.5 million for the full financial year.

The performance has been driven by sustained higher volumes of work across the Group. Despite the operational challenges posed by reports of the Omicron variant in December and January, there was no substantial impact.

Underlying cash generation and working capital management are reported to have been robust throughout the year with average daily net cash close to zero, a significant improvement on the previous year when net debt was £97.3 million.

The Group expects to report a net cash position at 31st December 2021 of around £54 million.

The Company entered the new financial year in a strong position, and trading to date is in line with the Board's expectations. The contract pipeline is said to be 'active and growing'.

The Group will announce its preliminary results for the financial year ended 31st December 2021 on 31st March 2022.

David Miles, CEO of the Group, said:

"We are trusted partners to our local and central government clients who increasingly recognise the need for a high quality, housing specialist to help them provide a broad range of housing solutions.

"With the fundamentals of our business in such good shape and the long-term challenges of affordable housing, public health and climate change high on the political agenda, we believe we are the housing partner of choice and look forward to 2022 and beyond with confidence."