Earlier this week Park Lawn Corporation (PLC) announced that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of he assets of Ward Funeral Home Limited.  Ward Funeral Home Limited operates three stand-alone funeral homes in the Greater Toronto, Ontario, Canada area.

 

Here’s what Park Lawn Corporation CEO J. Bradley Green said about the acquisition in a press release that you can see here, “The Ward businesses have been a staple within the Greater Toronto Area for over 100 years and these well-established best-in-class funeral homes not only complement Park Lawn’s existing Greater Toronto Area presence, but also closely align with Park Lawn’s values.  We look forward to furthering our strategic growth in the Greater Toronto Area through our partnership with the Ward family.”

 

Again, according to the press release, the three locations represent approximately 1,218 calls per year and are expected to add approximately US $ 1.8 million in Adjusted EBITDA to Park Lawn Corporation’s operations annually.  Park Lawn Corporation also mentioned in the press release that the price multiple paid is within PLC’s publicly-stated multiple range for historical transactions.

 

Funeral Director Daily take:  This is an important acquisition for Park Lawn Corporation.  It’s a well-known, well-thought of historical operator in the Toronto area.  Toronto is where Park Lawn Corporation had its beginning and this acquisition shows their committment to the area.

 

As an aside, as I do my work reference work for these articles I generally look at the website of the company being acquired.  When I look at the Ward Funeral Home Limited website I see a funeral business that seems to be on the cutting edge of understanding how the death care consumer is evolving.  They not only have planning guides for funerals and grief support and healing options for those who have lost loved ones, but they have all kinds of information that the consumer may be interested in and looking for.

 

In today’s day and age where many consumers want to learn from the comfort of their own home on their own computer, I think that complete of a web-site is a very progressive and competitive advantage for funeral homes that maintain it.

 

Furthermore, what really impressed me is the Ward Funeral Home’s openness about pricing.  Right up front on the web-site they ask you to look at “Ward’s Integrity Pricing Advantage”.   Then they move into a General Price List that not only details pricing selections but gives a great amount of detail on how the funeral home can help and explanations of what is available.  Again, in my opinion, it is incredibly well done.

Click here for the Ward Funeral Home Limited website

 

Related — I’m of the opinion that not only is the consumer interested about the services and pricing that funeral homes can offer to consumers, but I believe soon, at least in the USA, General Price Lists will be required on funeral home websites so that consumers can do this shopping in their own homes.

 

Again, in my opinion, one of our Funeral Director Daily sponsors, Strategic Funeral Resources, seems to be very good at getting these price lists on your website in a manner that explains to the consumer what may be needed and how you price your products and services.  You can explore their options available for your firm here.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• My grandmother wrote the eulogy for her own funeral.  Here’s why I plan to do the same.  Insider
• Dunn:  We need more green burials.  The Daily Utah Chronicle (UT)
• Cemetery researcher traces his lifelong interest in honoring veterans.  Hoptown Chronicle (KY)

 

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