Mattthews 3rd Quarter Report: Memorialization revenues drop 3% compared to one year ago

August 12, 2024/Finance/

Matthews International, the parent company of Matthews Aurora Casket and Matthews Cremation reported their April, May, and June 2024 quarter in early August. The company reported a revenue drop of 9.4% in total and a revenue drop of 3.0% in the Memorialization segment for that quarter when compared to the same period in 2023.

CEO Joseph C. Bartolacci was quoted in prepared remarks in this press release on the company’s results saying this about the Memorialzation segment, “The Memorialization segment reported sales relatively consistent with the same quarter last year, despite a decline in U.S. casketed deaths. The impact of unit volume declines in cemetery memorials and caskets related to the lower deaths was substantially offset by improved pricing and higher sales of mausoleums.”

For the quarter ended June 30, all segments of Matthews International reported combined total sales of $427.8 million as compared to total sales for 3Q2023 of $471.9 million — a drop of $44 million or 9.4% of 3Q23 sales.

For the Memorialization segment in particular, the company reported total 3Q24 sales of $202.6 million as compared to 3Q23 sales of $208.7 million — a percentage drop of 3%.

For the quarter the Memorialization segment, even with its drop in comparable sales, increased its percentage share of the company’s total revenue to 47.3% of total company revenue as compared to being 44.2% of company sales for 3Q23. The biggest reason for that is that the company’s Industrial Technology segment saw a drop in sales from $130.5 million in 3Q23 to only $91.7 million in 3Q24 — a drop of almost $40 million in quarterly sales.

As you may know from this article in Funeral Director Daily, Matthews International is facing a lawsuit from EV automaker Tesla. Here’s what CEO Bartolacci had to say about that issue in this report: “As you are aware, Tesla recently filed a suit attempting to restrict us from offering our innovative solutions to others. We remain confident in our ability to sell our equipment solutions into the growing electric vehicle market as our experienced global engineering talent brings a unique and valuable knowledge base to this market. Battery and automobile equipment manufacturers from around the world continue to solicit us for an opportunity to work with our Company and we have continued to receive orders. We do not currently believe Tesla’s suit will have a material impact on the Company and we continue to strongly believe that there is no merit to the claims against the Company.”

For the 9 months of the company’s fiscal year thus far, revenues are about $51 million less than for the first 9 months of last year. Total sales revenues for Matthews for the 9 months of the 2024 fiscal year are at $1.349 billion compared to $1.400 billion for the same period of a year ago — about a 3.7% decrease.

Looking forward to the 4th Quarter of the year CEO Bartolacci said this in the report: “Looking forward to our fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, we currently project adjusted EBITDA to be relatively consistent with a year ago. The Memorialization segment is expected to be generally in line with last year despite lower projected deaths, and the SGK Brand Solutions segment is expected to finish fiscal 2024 relatively consistent as well. We expect energy storage shipments and installations to pick up in the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, and into fiscal 2025. . . .”

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