Funeral group Dignity reports first quarter revenue growth

13th May 2013 08:38

Funeral services company Dignity reported an 11 per cent jump in first quarter revenue as the number of deaths rose seven per cent.Revenue for the three months to end of March came to £67.8m, compared to £61.1m the previous year.Underlying operating profit climbed 8.5% to £25.4m from the prior year's £23.4m. The group said the overall performance was ahead of management's expectations, driven by a higher number of deaths compared to the same period in 2012. In January, the firm completed the acquisition of Yew Holdings, a business including 40 funeral locations and two crematoriums. The newly purchased business is trading in line with forecasts and integration is on track. However, it has diluted the overall growth in average income per funeral in the first quarter as anticipated.The company has also purchased one other funeral location and opened seven satellite locations since the start of the year."This is a good performance by the group with the first quarter being ahead of our expectations," said Chief Executive Officer, Mike McCollum. "The integration of Yew Holdings is progressing well and the initial performance is encouraging. All three divisions of the business are performing strongly. Our outlook remains positive and our full year expectations are unchanged."Shares fell 0.14% to 1,444p at 08:48 Monday.RD