It’s quarterly reporting time in the public business realm and the companies in the death care sector are no different than others with that requirement.  Last week we reported Service Corporation International’s (SCI) results and today we bring you highlights of Houston, Texas based operator, Carriage Services.

You can access the Carriage Services 2nd Quarter 2021 Report here.

SCI’s report brought forth the fact that the company was able to increase revenues per service by over $600 as compared to the same Covid-ravaged quarter of a year earlier.  Carriage Services also showed an increase in revenue per service for the 2nd Quarter of 2021 over the 2nd Quarter of 2020 in their Five Quarter operating trend.  Carriage Services brought forth a more modest increase of $327 in revenue per service in 2Q 2021 over 2Q 2020 in the “same store” category. . . that’s an increase of 6.7%.

It was interesting to note also, that while SCI’s revenues per case increased more than Carriage Services, SCI did have a drop off, percentage wise in “same store” services of about 6% while Carriage Services number of calls remained static — 9,061 in 2Q 2021 as compared to 9,056 in 2Q 2020.  From my perspective, that probably represents the fact that Carriage Services’ locations are more rural and suburban in nature than those of SCI — who have major properties in cities such as New York City where Covid-19 saw high numbers of fatalities in 2020.

The big take-a-way in the Carriage Services report seems to be how well their cemeteries are operating.  They mention in their report that “Same Store Cemetery Revenue” for one month had exceeded $5 million only once in their history (April 2019) prior to a cemetery unit revamp and leadership change.  However, “Same Store Cemetery Revenue” exceeded $5 million in each of the last four months ending in June 2021, and averaged $5.6 million in revenue in those months.

For 2Q 2021 Cemetery Same Store Revenue was $16.5 million as compared to $11.5 million in 2Q 2020. . .an increase of 43%.

• Total Carriage Services Revenue for the 2nd Quarter was $88.2 million, an increase of $10.8 million over the same quarter in 2020.  That is an increase in total revenue of 13.9%
• Total Carriage Services Revenue for the first half of 2021 (6 months) was $184.9 million, an increase of $29.9 million over the same six-month period of 2020.  That’s an increase in total revenue of 19.3% for that period.

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Sherwood in the Forest with Rosie:  Beautiful Mount Hope Cemetery.  Daily Messenger (NY)
• Cremation garden grows at Yarmouth’s Riverside Cemetery.  The Forecaster (ME)
• Tom and Jenny Theller are about helping others and building relationships.   Lancaster Eagle Gazette (OH)
• Human death need not cause environmental harm.  Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)
• Mother sues cemetery in Nashville, alleges headstone fell and broke her daughter’s leg.  Video story and print article.  WATE – ABC Knoxville (TN)
• Gaithersburg approves limits on crematoria.  Bethesda Magazine (MD)

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