Propel Funeral Partners acquires three firms, provides guidance

June 25, 2026/Finance/

Propel Funeral Partners recently announced that they had acquired three funeral businesses that operate out of four separate properties and do an approximate combined 700 services annually. The company announced that the aggregate revenue of the businesses is US$ 2.8 million and the total “earn out” price paid will be US$ 6.37 million.

The chart below shows the Revenues and EBITDA as Propel Funeral Partners has grown to 209 locations over the past several years. In doing that you can see that total company Revenue has grown from US$ 56.7 million in FY 2018 to US$ 158.2 million in FY 2025. You can also see that their EBITDA has grown to almost US$ 40 million from a little over US$ 15 million in that same time period.

It’s interesting to note, however, that the Percentage of EBITDA to Revenue has dropped slightly over that period of time to 25.27% of Revenue

According to this article from Business News Australia, all three firms acquired by Propel Funeral Partners in this transaction are located in New Zealand and will extend Propel’s footprint into three regional markets across the country’s North and South Islands.

The article also makes note that Propel Funeral Partners revealed an intention to “pursue more acquisitions in the highly fragmented funeral sector across Australia and New Zealand”.

There is a June 4, 2026, announcement that you can access from the Propel Funeral Partners website (“Our Investors” section) about the acquisitions and further guidance on the company. Here are a couple of “Key Assumptions” from Propel Funeral Partners about moving forward:

Propel will perform about 22,850 services annually — That is a 1% increase on FY2025
Comparable Average Revenue per Funeral will show an annual growth of about 2%
There will be a stable gross margin and an annual increase in operating costs of about 2.5%

Here is the website for Propel Funeral Partners

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take: Using the information on the Revenue and Sales Purchase Price of the new properties and assigning the Percent EBITDA to Revenue that Propel Funeral Partners hit last year you could estimate that the price paid for the new properties was about 9 times EBITDA. (Equation: Revenue of US$ 2.8 million multiplied by EBITDA Pct (0.2527) would equal approximate EBITDA of acquired firms (US$ 707,560). Then divide the purchase amount (US$ 6.37 million by the EBITDA of US$ 707,560 to arrive at a multiple of 9.002.

When there are numbers available I enjoy doing these little exercises to help me look at the prices being paid in the Death Care industry. My findings are that, around the world, prices as a multiple of EBIDTA are pretty much standard. Numbers of services conducted, or lack of them, and the subjective growth potential of the community’s market, seem to move the sales price, up or down, more than any mathematical financial formula.

I think that is a pretty solid conclusion as financially, purchasers just can’t afford to pay more than the acquired company will bring in in revenue and EBITDA unless the acquiring firm can substantially gain market or capitalize on the economies of scale in having more locations in close proximity.

It’s one reason that I think when an owner wants to sell, looking to a competitor firm as the acquiring firm may bring in the largest sale price in many instances. Subjectively, that prospective buyer will see economies of scale and “almost” guaranteed growth by making the purchase.

Your competition should not be an overlooked party when you decide to divest your business.

If you are a buyer or seller looking for advice before you approach your sale/purchase target(s), I would suggest a visit with the experts at Johnson Consulting Group to get a better idea of the process and prices in today’s market environment.

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