Finance

Assurant looks to make changes. . .including divesting Global Preneed division

By Funeral Director Daily / November 2, 2020 /

Last week Assurant, the large financial conglomerate with operations in 21 countries, announced that they would acquire mobile device software as a service (SaaS) business HYLA.  You can read about that in this Associated Press release. In conjunction with that announcement, Assurant also made other announcements including a strategy to divest themselves of what they…

Carriage Services posts record 3Q revenue and EBITDA

By Funeral Director Daily / October 30, 2020 /

Earlier this week funeral home and cemetery consolidator Carriage Services, based in Houston, Texas, produced their 3rd Quarter 2020 report and in it they recognized the quarter as record breaking for revenue and EBITDA.  According to Chairman and CEO Mel Payne the company blew through milestones which they did not expect to reach until sometime…

Service Corp 3Q revenue rockets up

By Funeral Director Daily / October 29, 2020 /

Service Corporation International (SCI) 3rd Quarter 2020 revenue jumped almost 20% (19.37% actual) over the same period from 2019.  In a statement issued yesterday, October 28, here is what SCI’s President and CEO Tom Ryan said of the results: ” . . . the impact of COVID-19 has increased the number of funeral services performed…

Earnings season on its way: Zacks on Service Corp

By Funeral Director Daily / October 26, 2020 /

If you watched the stock market last week you would see that it bounced around a little bit.  That happens all the time dependent on world events and the business environment, but also four times per year we get in a period where public companies report the business results for the past three month period. …

Foundation Partners Group expands leadership team

By Funeral Director Daily / October 9, 2020 /

In a press release that we received last week, Foundation Partners Group announced that they had expanded and repositioned their leadership team.  According to the release that you can read here, this will “position the company for continued growth and innovation.” The release explains that Bob Bukala, formerly the President and CEO, will remain CEO…

Zacks looks at the funeral industry, an update on the DCI

By Funeral Director Daily / October 5, 2020 /

Last week Vrishali Bagree of Zacks presented an article that appeared on Nasdaq.com.  It was entitled “Rising demand keeps funeral industry going:  Four stocks to watch”.  You can read that article here. In essence the article tells that the Zacks Funeral Services industry is housed within the broader Zacks Consumer Staples sector.  According to the…

Park Lawn acquires West Coast funeral business

By Funeral Director Daily / October 2, 2020 /

Park Lawn Corporation, with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, and Houston, Texas, announced in a press release on October 1, that they had reached an agreement to acquire Bowers Funeral Service Ltd. of British Columbia.  You can see the press release here. According to the press release, Bowers Funeral Service is a three location firm with…

Foundation Partners adds Kentucky locations

By Funeral Director Daily / September 25, 2020 /

Foundation Partners Group, the Orlando based company that has grown by acquisition to over 140 locations of funeral homes, cremation centers, and cemeteries across the United States announced earlier this week that they had acquired the Clark Legacy Center of Kentucky. According to this press release from Foundation Partners, the acquisition will add three locations…

Come together . . . . .The Domani Group and Homesteaders Life Company

By Funeral Director Daily / September 24, 2020 /

The other day we received a press release announcing that “The Domani Group joins forces with Homesteaders Life Company”.  In that release, which you can read here, it announced “The Domani Group, a leader in preneed and aftercare solutions for funeral homes, is pleased to announce it is joining forces with Homesteaders Life Company.”   This…

Can Providence get $1 Billion for funeral group

By Funeral Director Daily / September 21, 2020 /

It was only two years ago that many of us were introduced to a major player in the global private equity industry named Providence Equity Partners.  According to this article which appeared on the American Funeral Association blog in December 2018, Providence had made inquiries into many companies in businesses that I will define as…