casket business
The people behind Titan Casket are not afraid of doing things outside the ordinary as compared to how the funeral industry has done things for the past 125 years. I’m guessing that in 1906 when John Hillenbrand purchased the Batesville Coffin Company and changed the name to Batesville Casket Company his customers were the…
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The last year has brought many changes to Death Care as it pertains to those companies that have been operated in the public markets. Both StoneMor and Dignity plc have been taken out of the public realm and into private ownership space and Batesville has been spun-out of Hillenbrand Industries and purchased by…
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Public company Matthews International, with a stake in the death care business, reported their Fiscal Year 2023 First Quarter last week and in doing so reported a company-wide quarter over quarter sales revenue increase of about 2.4%. The entire revenue increase, however, comes from their much heralded investment in the energy storage solutions business.…
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The first sentence from this article in The Star says all that needs to be said about what changes an investor group at Matthews International wants to take place, “Activist investor Barington Capital Group has built a stake in Matthews International Corp and argues the company needs to refresh its board, cut costs and…
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Earlier this summer we brought you this article which brought information that parent company Hillenbrand Industries was contemplating “strategic alternatives” for its Batesville division. Last week Forbes contributing writer Jim Osman expressed in this article his opinion that the Batesville division should be “spun-off” from Hillenbrand in order to unlock “shareholder value”. Osman contends that…
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We’ve mentioned that many death care companies are intent on growing and right now many seem to have the cash-flow to fuel those acquisitions that lead to company growth. Just last week Wilbert, Inc. announced an acquisition of a molding and finishing manufacturer who produces casket hardware, automotive/transportation components, and other consumer products. On the…
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The Cremation Association of North America (CANA) says the 2020 cremation rate in the United States was 56.1%. That same reliable group says that within the next decade – in 2030 – the national cremation rate will rise to 72.8%. Considering the fact that the vast majority of cremations in the United States do not…
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I had contact with an industry friend who had just returned from the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) convention last week. She indicated to me that it was good to get back to an in-person gathering and see old friends. One of the other things she indicated is that, in her opinion, how the…
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Matthews International reported their Fiscal year 2021 2nd Quarter results last week and with the report we noticed how it is impossible to not notice that their Memorialization business segment which consists of Aurora Casket, Matthews Cremation, and their cemetery, memorial, and mausoleum division, is increasingly leading the company. The other two segments of Matthews…
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In the world that we are living in, it is certainly not unexpected, but to see Batesville’s sales soar 30% for the October, November, and December quarter is both mind boggling and sobering. It is, in my opinion, mind boggling simply to see any company, without a major acquisition, grow their sales by 30% in…
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