Matthews 2Q 2023 Report: Memorialization sales slightly rise

May 3, 2023/Finance/

Mathews International’s sales rose about 7.8% year over year for their 2nd Quarter of 2023 as compared to the same quarter of 2022. Matthews is on a fiscal year so their 2nd Quarter comprises the months of January, February, and March. Most of the sales increase occured in Matthews Industrial Technologies segment.

However, while Matthews sales rose about 7.8% it was not the Memorialization segment that led to that increase. For the 2nd Quarter of 2023, as you can see in the table below, Memorialization segment sales increased only about $2.8 million or 1.3% over the same period in 2022.

SEGMENT INFORMATION (Unaudited)
(In thousands)

	Three Months Ended March 31,				Six Months Ended March 31,
	2023		2022		2023		2022
Sales:
Memorialization	$	222,889	$	220,004	$	429,391	$	430,710
Industrial Technologies		125,514		78,154		234,657		152,485
SGK Brand Solutions		131,177		146,820		264,772		300,362
	$	479,580	$	444,978	$	928,820	$	883,557

Here’s what Matthews International CEO Joseph C. Bartolacci said specifically about the Memorialization segment in this press release relating to 2nd quarter earnings, “Our Memorialization segment also reported sales growth for the current quarter despite a significant decline in U.S. casketed deaths. The increase for the current quarter primarily reflected growth in sales of cemetery memorial products and mausoleums, improved price realization, and the acquisition of Eagle Granite Company (February 2023). These increases were partially offset by lower casket unit volume reflecting the lower death rates.”

Funeral Director Daily take: It is interesting to note that while Matthews International has a solid and historically profitable Memorialization segment that includes Matthews Cremation (environmental solutions), Aurora Casket, and Matthews Cemetery Products I noticed that sales for the first 6 months of the company’s fiscal year have actually dropped in real dollars.

I’ve said for a long time that death care will become niche in consumer choice and business operations in the future. . i.e. — more offerings, more choices, and differing selections by the American consumer as compared to the simple choice of traditional casketed burial or cremation offerings of the recent past. One might wonder if this drop in sales, of traditional funeral and cremation products, over the past six months is indicative of that movement.

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