LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Mitie has sold its loss-making UK social care division - domiciliary care and homecare businesses Enara and Complete Care - to specialist healthcare investor Apposite Capital LLP for £2.
In addition, the group will contribute £9.45m to the funding of trading losses and the cost of the turnaround plan, which will be paid in two tranches.

Enara, trading as MiHomecare, provides care at home for people who require help and support due to illness, infirmity or disability. Its statutory loss before tax for the 12 months to 31 March 2016 was £11.5m.

Complete Care, which provides nurse-led, complex care solutions in the home, made a statutory loss before tax for the 12 months to 31 March 2016 of £0.2m.

Mitie said that in addition to the £115.3m impairment and write down of healthcare goodwill and acquisition related intangibles recognised in its September 2016 half-year results, there will be further losses in this financial year of around £36.8m.

These comprise forecast operating losses for the healthcare businesses of £12.5m for the 11 months to 28 February 2017, the £9.45m contribution to future losses and the turnaround plan, and £14.8m in respect of net asset write offs and the costs of separation, all of which will be recognised in the full year results.

The disposal of Enara and Complete Care is in line with the company's announcement back in November that it planned to withdraw from the domiciliary healthcare market.

Canaccord Genuity said: "With completion of the exit, the business should be on a cleaner and more focusedfooting, and with the market generally expecting a circa £10m cost to exit the business, today's outcome is broadly in line with views and removes one layer of uncertainty ahead of the results, which are due to be announced on 25 May."

At 1020 GMT, the shares were up 8.5% to 224.20p.

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