Care firm Mears has unveiled upbeat forecasts for 2014 following the successful acquisition of Alva-based ILS Group early last year.
Gloucester-based Mears said it had seen “strong growth” after snapping up the Clackmannanshire home care firm, which provides services to more than 2,000 people on a daily basis, in a £22.5 million deal in April.
ILS has around 1,300 employees in Scotland, and office locations including Kirkcaldy and Perth. It also works with more than 20 local authorities, including councils across Tayside, Fife and the Central Belt.
The acquisition has allowed Mears to increase its exposure to patients with more acute homecare needs, and develop a new dedicated care brand geared towards those with learning disabilities, autism, mental health and other complex conditions. Although ILS operates solely in Scotland, it holds the licences required to provide the higher-margin services throughout the rest of the UK and could be set for significant expansion.
“One of the principal attractions of ILS was its greater proportion of work providing higher acuity services and which is now being delivered through the Mears Nurseplus brand,” the company said in a trading update ahead of the publication of full-year results on Tuesday.
“It is pleasing to report that we have continued to achieve strong growth in this area.”
Interim results published in August showed an 8% boost to revenues from the ILS deal, a performance set to be further boosted when figures for the 12 months to December are revealed in March.
The company has completed the integration of facilities management business Morrison, a November 2012 acquisition, and the disposal of its loss-making mechanical and electrical division to transform itself into a care and social housing maintenance group.
It also hailed a new partnership agreement with Wiltshire County Council, which will see the company paid “by results” directly agreed with patients.
It hopes the new way of working, which has “started positively”, will be repeated elsewhere.
Chief executive David Miles said he was “delighted” with the progress made last year.
“The UK care market is going through a period of significant change and I am proud of the robust business we have established,” he said.
“Mears will continue to be at the forefront of change in the sector in 2014 and beyond.
“With Mears now focused solely on social housing and domiciliary care, I am delighted to report that we continue to achieve high levels of service delivery and customer satisfaction.
“The quality of our service delivery continues to be our key differentiator and underpins our success in bidding for new contracts in both of our core growth sectors.”