The COVID-19 pandemic during the year 2020 and how countries geographic location and national responses to the situation could not be more different than you see in recent publicly owned funeral home companies’ annual reports. We’ve reported on the results of the United States Service Corporation International (SCI) and Carriage Services both in the last week. At the end of last week we received early data and results from the two largest public funeral home operators in Australia and New […]
Sometimes it is difficult to take a public stand on an issue. You might feel strong one way or another, but you know that taking a public stance could possibly hinder the amount of business that you do. It is pretty evident in America right now that if you flew a Trump 2020 flag in your parking lot. . . you would show where you stand on the political side, but I would guess that it might cause some potential […]
You have heard me say many times that small funeral home operators can learn a lot from watching what the public companies are doing in the business. I’m also of the opinion that those of us in North America can learn much from what our colleagues in Australia and Great Britain are doing. . . .especially in that they seem to be ahead of their North American counterparts in how they service cremation client families in that ever growing segment […]
Propel Funeral Partners, the Australian and New Zealand based operator of funeral homes and crematoria, reported last week that their revenue for the latest 9 month period had been AUS $ 85.0 million ($55.25 m in U.S. $) as compared to AUS $69.9 million (US$ 45.24 m) for the prior year. That is a 22% jump in revenues for the company which owns and operates 129 locations that includes 31 cremation facilities and nine cemeteries. Nine month operating EBIDTA for […]
To roll into the weekend we thought we would give you some food for thought in the funeral industry from almost 10,000 miles apart. Our articles today come from the investment community in both the United States and Australia. Both are good, well thought out articles that deal with the world of death care in their own countries. I’ve always been one to look at these type of articles which deal with the funeral business on a large scale and […]
We don’t have to look very far to understand that we live in an inter-connected world. What happens in one part of the world has always led to innovation in other parts of the world. But now with our connectivity, it just happens much faster. And, it is always wise to look to other parts of the world for emerging trends or the justification of what is happening in your part of the planet is indeed happening in other parts […]
The headline from a Motley Fool piece that you can read here states, “InvoCare delivers solid profit and dividend growth in FY2019”. Australia’s largest funeral and cremation provider recorded revenue growth of 4% for the year which led to a 19.6% increase in after tax operating earnings. For the year, InvoCare brought in revenue of AUS $ 500.35 million (US $329.17 million) and recorded after tax net profits of AUS 63.75 million (US$41.94 million). The article mentioned that the gains […]
This article from Yahoo Finance indicates that Australian and New Zealand public funeral operating company Propel Funeral Partners is growing market share. According to the article it is growing both from acquisitions and an annual death rate increase in both countries. Here is an excerpt from that article: “In Propel’s FY19 investor presentation, the company drew attention to notable industry figures. With death volumes in Australia expected to increase by a rate of 2.4% p.a. until 2026 and 2.1% thereafter […]
Australia’s largest purveyor of death care services, InvoCare, has been accused by some of irregularities in the way that it handles its invoicing. According to this article from Choice.com, InvoCare routinely includes a $320, plus taxes, “administration fee” on invoices. Again, according to the Choice.com article, the administration fee functions somewhat as a “late fee”. For instance, if you pay the invoice in full within 21 days you can then deduct the administration fee. However, when you pay the […]
InvoCare Limited, the largest public company in the death care space serving Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore reported half-year earnings which indicate that Operating Earnings after tax dropped 5.2% to AUS $22.3 million from last year’s AUS $23.6 million. In somewhat of an interesting note, Net Profits increased 97% to AUS $41.4 million because of “Earnings on Pre-Paid Funeral Funds.” You can read more about the report from InvoCare here. Sales revenue for InvoCare grew to AUS $ 241.5 million […]
