Dignity 1H Pretax Profit +6.6%; Positive On Full Year Outlook

30th Jul 2010 07:38

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. funeral services group Dignity PLC (DTY.LN) Friday posted a 6.6% rise in first-half pretax profit, boosted by a strong performance from its pre-arranged funeral plans unit, and said its expectations for the full year continue to be positive. Dignity said there were around 284,000 deaths in the U.K. in the period, down from around 288,000 last year, and it conducted 33,600 funerals, down from 35,000. For the 26 weeks to June 25, Dignity, which offers funeral services, crematoria and pre-arranged funeral plans, reported pretax profit of GBP24.3 million compared with GBP22.8 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased to GBP100.9 million from GBP95.6 million, while the dividend rose to 4.43 pence a share from 4.03 pence last year. Dignity said it is investigating the possibility of issuing further secured notes due to attractive bond yields. However, it expects to releverage the group to a lower level than it has been previously, and said that if it does issue further secured notes, it expects the majority of the proceeds to be returned to shareholders. The company added that it is currently building a new crematorium in Worcestershire, which is expected to become operational in the second quarter of 2011. -By Rachael Gormley, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9308; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 30, 2010 02:38 ET (06:38 GMT)