Appointment of CEO

RNS Number : 7779W

Mears Group PLC

25 November 2010

 



25 November 2010

Mears Group PLC

("Mears" or "the Group")

Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

Mears today announces the appointment of David Miles to Chief Executive Officer, with immediate effect.

David, 44, has been Chief Operating Officer and a board member of Mears Group PLC since January 2007. Prior to this he held a number of senior positions within the Group since joining in May 1996. David has been instrumental in the growth and development of Mears from a regional provider of services with just five branches to the market leading Group that Mears is today, with 180 branches supporting an extensive social housing and domiciliary care business. He has an unparalleled track record of delivering complex contracts and managing client relationships with his customer centric philosophy.  Over the past three years David has also built up a strong operational team which will support him in his new role as CEO.

David Miles is taking on the CEO role from Bob Holt, the current Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman, who has presided over the business since flotation in 1996. During this time Mears has grown from revenues of £12m to £470m and has expanded into new areas such as domiciliary care. Bob will continue as Chairman of the Board.

David has been selected after a rigorous process of succession planning which has involved discussions with major shareholders and customers. The appointment was approved by the Nominations Committee.  The process has been underway internally for some time resulting in a stable and smooth transition.

Bob Holt, Chairman, commenting on the change, said: "I am delighted to be handing the business to David in such good health, as reported in our recent IMS. I know David's impressive track record with clients, tenants and investors, his knowledge of our markets and his skills, strategic thinking and experience will be of ongoing benefit to Mears. I have every confidence that David and his strong and stable team, together with Andrew Smith (Finance Director) and Alan Long (Development Director) will build on the progress made to date and continue with our ambitions to grow shareholder value.  I look forward to working with him in our new roles to ensure a continued seamless transition."

Commenting, David Miles said: "I am delighted to have been selected to lead Mears Group PLC at such an exciting time in the Group's history.  We have consolidated our market leading position in the highly fragmented social housing and domiciliary care markets and are now well positioned to achieve further expansion and take advantage of the current opportunities and market conditions."

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About Mears

www.mearsgroup.co.uk

(tickers: MER.L MER.LN  MER.PL)

Mears is a leading social housing repairs and maintenance service provider to Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords in the UK and, following the acquisition of Supporta, now commands a leading position in the UK Local Authorities' outsourced domiciliary care market, providing personal care services to people in their own homes.

Mears employs in excess of 12,000 people and provides maintenance and repairs services to in excess of 10 per cent of the social housing market in the UK.  Mears also provides over 150,000 hours of domiciliary care to 20,000 service users each week.

Enquiries:
Mears Group PLC
Bob Holt, Chairman	Tel: [phone]
Andrew Smith, Finance Director David Miles, Chief Executive Officer	Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone]
Joint Broker - Investec
Keith Anderson/Daniel Adams	Tel: [phone]
Joint Broker - Collins Stewart
Mark Dickenson/Ileana Antypas	Tel: [phone]
Financial PR - Threadneedle Communications	Tel: [phone]
Trevor Bass/Alex White
IR - Hansard Communications	Tel: [phone]
John Bick/Kirsty Corcoran	Tel: [phone]

 

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