The housing and care services provider also said it did not see a significant impact on work volumes during Britain's second national lockdown in November, adding that it expected its performance to return to historical levels in 2021.

Coronavirus-related restrictions, however, are likely to keep user numbers elevated within the central government contracts, before returning to more normalised levels in the second half, Mears said.

The company said it expects to post a small annual profit and revenue of around 825 million pounds ($1.10 billion), compared with 982.6 million pounds a year earlier.

The small-cap firm's shares, which have shed nearly half of their value so far this year, were trading flat at 0816 GMT.

(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)