Funeral locations boost Dignity profits
An acquisition hunt by funeral services provider Dignity has helped boost operating profit to £48.4m, the company said this morning (14 November 2011).
Sutton Coldfield-based Dignity said it had bought three new funeral locations and opened seven satellite operations since July.
It added that it remains "on track" to open a crematorium in Worcestershire in the final quarter of 2011 and one in Essex in 2012.
Through an interim management statement, Dignity said underlying operating profit had increased by 7.6 per cent to £48.4m. Revenue had been upped 7.3 per cent to £155.8m for the nine months ending 30 September.
Mike McCollum, chief execitive of Dignity, said: "This is a good performance by the group. I am pleased that we continue to increase the number of funeral and crematoria locations we operate and that pre-arranged funeral plan sales continue to be strong.
"Our outlook remains positive and our full year expectations are unchanged."
The company was recently announced as the preferred bidder to operate one crematorium and three cemeteries on behalf of Haringey Council. This is expected to be effective during the first quarter of 2012.
