Mears Group PLC on Thursday said Chris Loughlin has withdrawn from re-election at its annual general meeting, meaning he will resign as chair-designate from the same day.

With the Gloucester, England-based housing and social care provider’s AGM being held on Friday, Non-Executive Director Loughlin will resign from the board from this date.

Loughlin had previously offered himself for re-election, Mears said. However, it noted a ‘significant’ number of proxy votes against this resolution, even if received votes suggest the resolution would have passed with a majority in favour.

As a result of opposition, Mears said Chris has decided not to stand for re-election, also resigning as non-executive director in the process.

Mears said it will review the membership of the board and the chair position, providing an update in due course.

On Friday last week, Mears said it has seen strong trading in the first five months of its financial year, with ‘continued elevated revenues, improving operating margins and excellent cash performance’.

As a result of this ‘continued strong momentum’, Mears said it expects full year profits to be materially ahead of current market expectations. It did not specify what these were.

For 2022, Mears reported revenue of £959.6 million, up from £878.4 million. Pretax profit more than doubled to £34.9 million from £16.3 million.

Mears is scheduled to release its interim results for the six months to June 30 on August 3.

Shares in Mears were flat at 286.00 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.

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