LONDON (ShareCast) - Mears Group saw an improvement in most of its financial metrics in the six months to June, although some analysts did note the "quieter" order intake.

The UK provider of support services to the social housing and care sectors reported 21% growth in interim profit before tax, from £15.5m to £18.7m, thanks to an improvement in operating margins.

That came even as total revenues were down £11m, from £439.1m to £428.1m following the anticipated loss of non-recurring Morrison sales, which saw revenues for the social housing division drop from £378.6m to £364.9m.

On an organic basis, however, revenues in social housing in fact increased by 3%. Operating margins in that same segment moved up a notch to 4.2% from 3.7% beforehand.

Turnover in the company's other main business arm, the care division, grew by 5% to reach £63.2m, with margins steady at 7.8%.

David Miles, the group chief executive, said the company expected earnings for the full year to be "in line with its expectations", despite the temporary delays to new bidding opportunities as a result of recent changes to housing finance and welfare reforms.

In particular, Miles highlighted that the opportunities in social housing remain "very strong" while the company remains very well placed to take advantage of the long-term opportunities in the care space.

Net cash from operating activities for the six months ended on June 30 improved to £8.53m versus the outflow of -£2.7m registered in the comparable period of 2013.

The company's interim dividend was hiked by 14% to 2.85p.

Analysts at Peel Hunt labelled the firm's operating performance as "strong", emphasising the momentum in margins and strong cash conversion.

Order intake was "quieter" the broker pointed out, but the shares valuation - at 15 times' 2014 earnings per share - provide scope for re-rating as well as the potential for positive earnings surprises it went on to tell clients in a research note.

As of 13:11 shares of Mears were off by 0.66% to 490p.

AB

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