Yesterday Park Lawn Corporation announced another acquisition of a funeral home.  Fresh off the announced purchase of seven cemeteries in New York and New Jersey last week for a combined price of close to $50 million, the Toronto based company announced the purchase of the Billingsley Funeral Home in Huntsville, Ontario.

In a press release from Business Insider that you can read here Andrew Clark, Chairman and CEO of Park Lawn Corporation, stated, “Billingsley’s proximity to our existing operations in the Greater Toronto Area makes this business a great fit to our existing portfolio of assets in Ontario.”

According to the press release the purchase price was $1.7 million and was funded from Park Lawn’s existing credit facility.  Park Lawn also announced that the purchase multiple is within PLC’s publicly-stated EBITDA multiple range.

According to Park Lawn’s web-site, the company believes it is the “fastest-growing”  company in the industry in North America.  They have grown from 6 cemetery properties in 2013 to what we believe is 98 properties after this acquisition.

Funeral Director Daily take:  We said in our January industry forecast for what is ahead in 2018 that Park Lawn Corporation will be aggressive in acquiring properties.  We have no reason to believe any different after the last couple of weeks.

What is interesting about Park Lawn Corporation is that they publicly state that they are a company poised to grow, yet they still plan to increase their 2.2% dividend to stockholders.  As an investor, a growth company with yield is exciting to me.

When I took a look at the Park Lawn Corporation web-site I came across this current investor presentation that you can access here.  I think that they have an excellent thought out strategy and if they can execute they will be in for a long ride.