Latest news with #MearsGroup
Daily Record
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Record
Mears Foundation grant help transforms North Lanarkshire school playground
The playground at Christ The King Primary and Nursery School in Holytown has been transformed, thanks to a £5,000 grant from the Mears Foundation and hands-on support from parent volunteers and Mears Group colleagues who volunteered their time and expertise. A Mears Foundation grant and volunteers have helped transform a North Lanarkshire school playground. The playground at Christ The King Primary and Nursery School in Holytown has been transformed, thanks to a £5,000 grant from the Mears Foundation and hands-on support from parent volunteers and Mears Group colleagues who volunteered their time and expertise. The Parent and Teacher Council at the school submitted an application to local employer Mears Group's charitable arm – the Mears Foundation to support their vision of creating a welcoming, safe, and creative space for children to learn and play. To achieve this the volunteer team removed a large storage shed, levelled the ground, fitted AstroTurf, removed overgrown trees, replaced outdated COVID-era playground markings, and installed new, fun activity markings. Volunteers from Mears' Coatbridge team helped coordinate the project so that it could be completed during the school holidays and offered practical support throughout the project, working alongside the school and community members to help bring the plans to life. Members of the school community dedicated hours to preparing the site before contractors arrived. Their efforts also encouraged local suppliers and tradespeople to offer further support free of charge, including the donation of benches and picnic tables for the revamped outdoor space. Scott Hoey, Chairperson of the Parent and Teacher Council at Christ The King, said: 'A heartfelt thank you to Mears Foundation and Mears Group for your incredibly kind and generous grant. 'With your support, we've been able to transform them playground into a more exciting, inclusive, and educational space for all our children. 'New playground markings have been added for netball, football, and bike-ability activities, and we've created a new area by clearing overgrown trees and weeds, allowing us to develop an outdoor classroom and play zone. 'Watching the children enjoy these spaces has been a real reminder of how powerful community support can be.' Alan Burns, Managing Director, Mears, added: 'Mears Group is committed to supporting the communities where we work and live. This project is a fantastic example of how meaningful that support can be – not just in terms of funding, but by working closely with local people to bring their ideas to life. 'Backed by funding from the Mears Foundation, we're proud to have played a role in helping the school create a vibrant and inclusive space for pupils to enjoy for years to come.'
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Scottish Labour accused of trying to hide candidate's link to scandal-hit firm
Labour is facing questions over transparency after it failed to disclose that a byelection candidate worked for a company previously embroiled in a data falsification scandal. The party has not told voters in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse byelection that its candidate, Davy Russell, worked as a consultant to a subsidiary of Mears Group in the neighbouring area of North Lanarkshire. Scottish Labour is facing defeat in the byelection, which was called after Christina McKelvie, the area's popular Scottish National party MSP, died suddenly in March. Labour fears it may come in third behind Reform UK, which would send shock waves through the party. It would mark a significant reversal of fortunes for Labour since it won the adjacent Westminster seat of Rutherglen and Hamilton West by a landslide in October 2023. Last year it emerged that Mears Scotland LLP had allegedly falsified at least 13,000 maintenance records, after a whistleblower reported the firm to North Lanarkshire council's auditors. That led councillors to postpone the signing of a new £1.8bn contract with the company, a joint venture between Mears and the council that provides all the maintenance and repairs for every council building and all of its 36,700 council houses. Russell told Scottish Labour in his application to become the party's byelection candidate that he worked for Mears Group as a part-time consultant, as well as a serving as an unpaid trustee for Sense Scotland, a disabilities charity. Scottish Labour officials told the Guardian that Russell, formerly a senior official at Glasgow city council, worked for two days a week for the subsidiary from the start of 2025 until he was selected as Labour's byelection candidate in April. That work for Mears has not been disclosed in his biography on the campaign website set up by Scottish Labour or in any other campaign material. Instead, his biography says he 'supports people with disabilities, helps run a local hospice' and is also deputy lord lieutenant for South Lanarkshire. An SNP spokesperson said: 'This will certainly raise eyebrows in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse – Scottish Labour must come clean.' A Labour source critical of the omission said candidate selection was very tightly controlled. 'It's outrageous they're trying to hide it. The party needs to be straightforward with the public about the candidates it's putting forward,' they said. Scottish Labour would not comment directly on why it had not mentioned Russell's work for Mears in its campaigning, but said: 'Prior to being a candidate, Davy Russell used his expertise in local government to support work being done at North Lanarkshire council. It's this lifetime of experience in delivering public services he will use to deliver for the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.' Mears, one of the UK's largest housing and maintenance groups, has close ties to numerous councils in the region, including South Lanarkshire, where the byelection is being staged, and has Home Office contracts to house asylum seekers in the area. In April 2020 it was criticised for moving more than 300 asylum seekers in Glasgow into what was reported to be inadequate hotel accommodation. Two months later, a Sudanese man stabbed six people at one of those hotels and was shot dead by police. There is growing disquiet within Scottish Labour about its chances in the byelection. Party figures involved in canvassing have been dismayed by the strength of support for Reform and voter anger about spending decisions made by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, most notably over winter fuel payments. Earlier this month, Reform pushed Labour into third place in a council byelection in Clydebank that the SNP won. Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, told reporters during a byelection campaign visit to Larkhall on Wednesday that he believed Labour needed to listen to potential Reform voters. 'It's really important to stress that people who are tempted to vote Reform, the vast majority if not all of them, they're not racist, they're not stupid, it's not that they don't understand politics. It's because they're scunnered [fed up] because they think government doesn't work for them.' Russell confirmed on Wednesday that he would not appear in a televised candidates debate hosted by STV, amid reported concerns that he is not a polished media performer.
Bloomberg
07-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Cost of Housing UK Asylum Seekers Triples to £15 Billion
The cost of housing UK asylum seekers has more than tripled, Britain's public audit watchdog said, piling pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government to deliver on its immigration promises. Contracts handed in 2019 to three private contractors, Clearsprings Ready Homes, Mears Group and Serco Group, were originally estimated by the Home Office to cost £4.5 billion ($6 billion) over 10 years, according to a report on Wednesday by the National Audit Office. It revealed that the latest estimates show they're now expected to cost £15.3 billion through to 2029.
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Asylum accommodation - including hotels - to cost taxpayer £15BILLION over 10 years, more than TRIPLE original estimate, shock official report shows
Asylum accommodation - including hotels - will cost the taxpayer £15billion over 10 years, spending watchdogs have revealed. The overall cost is more than triple the Home Office 's original estimate, data from the National Audit Office (NAO) showed. Contracts were originally forecast to cost £4.5billion over a decade from 2019 but are now expected to run to £15.3bn over same period, after the Channel crisis exploded. Asylum hotels 'may be more profitable' for companies holding the contracts than other types of housing, the government's official auditors said. The Home Office awarded the 10-year contracts to three suppliers in 2019 – Clearsprings Ready Homes, Mears Group and Serco – which each operate two or three UK regions each. They are responsible for finding a range of self-catering accommodation for asylum seekers who are dispersed across the country, and for sub-contracting hotels for tens of thousands of migrants coming across the Channel by small boat. The report found Clearsprings is now set to be paid £7.3billion over the 10 years from 2019 to 2029, the NAO said, while Serco is expected to get £5.5billion and Mears will receive £2.5billion. The report said: 'People accommodated in hotels account for 76 per cent of the annual cost of the contracts (£1.3 billion out of an estimated £1.7 billion in 2024-25). 'Data reported by suppliers suggests that hotels may be more profitable than other forms of accommodation.' It said the Home Office 'originally estimated that the total contract cost would be £4.5billion over 10 years'. 'However, the current estimated total is £15.3billion over the same period. 'The number of people seeking asylum who are accommodated by the Home Office increased from around 47,000 in December 2019 to around 110,000 in December 2024,' it added. The Commons' home affairs select committee is due to question Steve Lakey, managing director of Clearsprings Ready Homes, and Claudia Sturt, prisons and immigration director of Serco UK and Europe, next week. Committee chairman Dame Karen Bradley said: 'Dealing with the cost of the asylum accommodation system remains a huge challenge for the Government. 'The NAO report reveals that the cost of these contracts is likely to be over three times what was envisaged when they were drawn up. 'Next week we'll be speaking to providers to understand their role in sourcing and managing accommodation for asylum seekers. 'We want to see why costs have risen so dramatically, but will also be looking at the quality of support that is provided, and will be challenging providers on failures to meet key performance indicators in recent years.'
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top UK Dividend Stocks To Consider In April 2025
As the UK market grapples with the impact of weak trade data from China, evidenced by recent declines in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices, investors are increasingly seeking stability and income through dividend stocks. In such uncertain times, a strong dividend yield can provide a reliable income stream, making dividend-paying stocks an attractive consideration for those looking to navigate current market volatility. Name Dividend Yield Dividend Rating WPP (LSE:WPP) 7.41% ★★★★★★ Man Group (LSE:EMG) 8.41% ★★★★★☆ Treatt (LSE:TET) 3.92% ★★★★★☆ 4imprint Group (LSE:FOUR) 5.86% ★★★★★☆ DCC (LSE:DCC) 4.19% ★★★★★☆ Big Yellow Group (LSE:BYG) 5.06% ★★★★★☆ Grafton Group (LSE:GFTU) 4.35% ★★★★★☆ OSB Group (LSE:OSB) 8.28% ★★★★★☆ NWF Group (AIM:NWF) 4.75% ★★★★★☆ James Latham (AIM:LTHM) 7.82% ★★★★★☆ Click here to see the full list of 65 stocks from our Top UK Dividend Stocks screener. Let's take a closer look at a couple of our picks from the screened companies. Simply Wall St Dividend Rating: ★★★★☆☆ Overview: The Alumasc Group plc, with a market cap of £118.14 million, manufactures and sells building products, systems, and solutions across the United Kingdom and various international markets including Europe, North America, the Middle East, and the Far East. Operations: Alumasc Group's revenue is primarily derived from its Water Management segment (£55.87 million), Building Envelope segment (£39.16 million), and Housebuilding Products segment (£15.24 million). Dividend Yield: 3.3% Alumasc Group, while trading below its estimated fair value, presents a mixed picture for dividend investors. Recent earnings growth and a low payout ratio suggest dividends are well covered by both earnings and cash flows. However, the company's dividend history is marked by volatility and unreliability over the past decade. The recent £3 million investment in expanding manufacturing capabilities may support future growth, but its current 3.29% yield remains below top-tier UK dividend payers. Click here to discover the nuances of Alumasc Group with our detailed analytical dividend report. Our valuation report unveils the possibility Alumasc Group's shares may be trading at a discount. Simply Wall St Dividend Rating: ★★★★☆☆ Overview: Mears Group plc, with a market cap of £339.73 million, provides outsourced services to both public and private sectors in the United Kingdom through its subsidiaries. Operations: Mears Group plc's revenue is derived from providing a range of outsourced services to public and private sector clients in the UK. Dividend Yield: 4.1% Mears Group's dividend profile is mixed, with recent increases bringing the total annual dividend to 16 pence per share, up 23% from last year. Despite a history of volatility, current dividends are well covered by earnings and cash flows, with payout ratios at 31.8% and 14.2%, respectively. Trading at a low P/E ratio of 7.3x compared to the UK market average, Mears offers good value but forecasts indicate potential earnings decline over the next three years. Dive into the specifics of Mears Group here with our thorough dividend report. According our valuation report, there's an indication that Mears Group's share price might be on the cheaper side. Simply Wall St Dividend Rating: ★★★★☆☆ Overview: Vesuvius plc offers molten metal flow engineering and technology services to the steel and foundry casting industries globally, with a market cap of £803.81 million. Operations: Vesuvius plc generates revenue from its segments including Foundry (£476.30 million), Steel - Flow Control (£769 million), Steel - Sensors & Probes (£39.20 million), and Steel - Advanced Refractories (£535.60 million). Dividend Yield: 7.1% Vesuvius plc's dividend profile shows a mixed picture. The company recently recommended a final dividend of 16.4 pence per share, contributing to a full-year total of 23.5 pence. However, dividends are not well covered by cash flows due to high payout ratios and past volatility, making them unreliable despite growth over the last decade. Shares trade at good value relative to peers and industry, yet the sustainability of its 7.14% yield remains uncertain amidst coverage concerns. Unlock comprehensive insights into our analysis of Vesuvius stock in this dividend report. Our expertly prepared valuation report Vesuvius implies its share price may be lower than expected. Discover the full array of 65 Top UK Dividend Stocks right here. Already own these companies? Link your portfolio to Simply Wall St and get alerts on any new warning signs to your stocks. Unlock the power of informed investing with Simply Wall St, your free guide to navigating stock markets worldwide. Explore high-performing small cap companies that haven't yet garnered significant analyst attention. Fuel your portfolio with companies showing strong growth potential, backed by optimistic outlooks both from analysts and management. Find companies with promising cash flow potential yet trading below their fair value. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include AIM:ALU LSE:MER and LSE:VSVS. 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