Mears Group PLC on Thursday said it swung to a profit in 2021 thanks to good pipeline conversion and successful cost management and noted a strong start to the new year.

The Gloucester, England-based housing and social care provider swung to a pretax profit of £16.3 million in 2021 from a loss of £15.2 million the previous year.

The company said it benefited from an improved trading performance in the year and lower interest costs due to its improved debt position.

Revenue rose 9.0% in the year to £878.4 million from £805.8 million in 2020. Mears said this was very close to the revenue of £881.5 million achieved in 2019.

Maintenance-led revenue rose by 1.4%, management-led revenue rose 22%, and development revenue rose a notable 70% in the year which the company explained was due to good sell-through.

The company recommended a final dividend of 5.50 pence, bringing the full-year dividend to 8.00p. For 2020, the company paid no dividend.

Mears said it had made a ‘positive’ start to 2022 with current trading in line with expectations. It noted a strong start in management-led contracts in particular.

Chief Executive David Miles said: ‘The positive trading performance across revenues, profits and cash was driven by good pipeline conversion, successful cost management and long-term investment in our people and our systems. The year has started well and Mears is well-positioned to manage the sector-wide inflationary cost pressures.’

Shares in Mears were down 1.5% at 203.00 pence on Thursday morning in London.

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