Steady six months for Dignity
Funeral services provider Dignity has posted an improvement in revenue and profit for the 26 weeks to 1 July 2011.
The Sutton Coldfield business reported revenue of £107.7m, a 6.7 per cent rise from the comparable 2010 period.
Pre-tax profit grew by 0.8 per cent to £24.5m. As a result of this performance basic earnings per share grew by 25.2 per cent to 33.8 pence and a dividend of 4.87 pence was paid to shareholders.
Over the year the company spent £11m acquiring seven funeral locations and plans to open a new crematorium in Worcester in the fourth quarter of 2011 are still on track.
Mike McCollum, chief executive of Dignity, said: "This is a strong first half performance. We have expanded our portfolio of funeral locations and crematoria and the book of pre-arranged funeral plans continues to grow.
"The group remains on track to achieve the board's expectations for the full year."
