I’ve had a lot of experience during my time as a Board member and Chairman of Senior Living companies extending “service lines” in order to build business.  And, I think part of the future of Death Care will include present operting companies expanding “service lines” to become larger companies.

 

In the Senior Living realm that started with nursing home living we expanded into independent living options and also into home health care and hospice care to capture more business or “wallet share” of current clients.  I learned from my expeerience on a Wells Fargo Bank Board that gaining “market share” and then “wallet share” of that market is a great way to exponentially grow your revenues.

 

In essence, I learned that it is easier and less expensive to get more business from your present clientele than it is to try to exclusively acquire new clientele for new revenue.

 

It’s that thought process that found me very interested in the Interim Management Report for the period of January 1, 2026, through June 30, 2026, of the Castelnau Group, owners of Valderrama, parent company of Great Britain funeral home operator Dignity Plc.  According to the Dignity Plc website, the company operates in over 500 British communities.

 

You see, Dignity Plc recently completed acquiring Farewill in February 2025.  Farewill, a company that deals with wills and probate, now also offers preneed services to Brits.  And, from the remarks in the Interim Management Report it appears that acquisition is working for Dignity Plc.  Here’s the complete quote from that report:

 

“The legal services strategy has continued to exceed expectations.  During the period, probate services were successfully rolled out across the entire funeral branch network, with demand exceeding initial expectations”.

 

Here is the website of Farewill.

Here is the website for Dignity Funeral Directors.

 

A couple other interesting items that are mention in the Castelnau Interim Management Report concerning Dignity plc include the following quotes:

 

• “Within Dignity Plc (Dignity), considerable work is underway to prepare the business for a potential future liquidity event, whilst recognising that such a process will take time and that value creation remains the overriding priority.  We continue to support management’s investment in technology, legal services, crematoria expansion, and customer experience, all of which we believe strengthen the quality and durability of the business”.

 

• “Simplicity Cremations has continued to establish itself in the prepaid funeral plan market despite significant competitive activity.  Market share has continued to grow whilst maintaining a disciplined marketing approach, with encouraging levels of brand awareness and customer conversion.”

 

Related — “Castelnau return underperforms benchmark, shares fall”.  Morningstar (September 17, 2026)

 

Funeral Director Daily take:  While “wallet share” and “service line extension” might be new terms to many funeral directors and funeral home owners, Death Care practitioners should realize they have been practicing the concept for decades.  You can go back to the idea of selling cemetery monuments that pushed your line of offerings into post-funeral service offerings.  Or, you can think of going into Preneed insurance in competition with a bank offering Certificate of Deposit Savings for consumers as an extension of your services prior to a death as examples of “service line extension”.

 

Dignity is now proving that simple, will and probate services may other pre- and post-death line extensions that can work.  And, for large enough operators, I think other pre-death line extensions such as hospice care ownership may not be too far into the future.

 

As for Post-death line extension, I think it is a slam-dunk decision to be offering what I call “The Cremation Aftermarket” products, such as Parting Stone, Eterneva, Celestis, and the like as line extensions that can offer ancillary income to a funeral home.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Funeral planning expert highlights the importance of personal guidance in an increasingly digital industry.  NFDA Press Release
• Co-op’s insurance and funeral arms do heavy lifting as it climbs out of cyberattack hole.  Insurance Business Magazine (Great Britain)
• Madison County veterans cemetery project recieves $5.4 million boost, moving closer to October groundbreaking.  Fox 54 – Huntsville (AL)
• Family seeks answers after pre-purchased burial plot in Delray Beach cemetery was sold to someone else.  WPTV – West Palm Beach (FL)
• Opal Cremation outlines cost differences between direct cremations and traditional funeral services.  EiN Presswire
• Family accuses Delta of leaving father’s remains unrefrigerated overnight in Memphis.  Simple Flying

 

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