As Diginty is new to the martkets and the first funeral services company to be floated, what are your views on its future potential?

There appears to be little data on which to ascertain a valuation.

I don't suppose we are going to run out of dead people!

Proposed acquisition of five crematoria locations

RNS


RNS Number : 7027Z

Dignity PLC

31 May 2016




For immediate release 31 May 2016



Dignity plc



Proposed acquisition of five crematoria locations from Funeral Services Limited



Introduction



Dignity plc (Dignity or the Group), the UK's only listed provider of funeral related services, is pleased to announce that it has signed a conditional sale and purchase agreement to acquire five crematoria currently operated by Funeral Services Limited (trading as Co-op Funeralcare) for total consideration of £43 million (the Acquisition), to be satisfied in cash upon completion.



These crematoria are located in markets not served by existing Dignity crematoria. Of the crematoria acquired, three locations are freehold (Glasgow, Sheffield and Lichfield), with the other two leased from and managed on behalf of Local Authorities (Shropshire and Stockport). Completion of the acquisition of the freehold locations is conditional upon the transfer of trade and assets of the relevant locations to a new entity, which is expected to complete on or around 5 July 2016. Completion of the acquisition of the leasehold locations is conditional upon consent of the relevant Local Authority and transfer of the trade and assets of the location to a new entity. Consequently, one leasehold location is anticipated to complete on or around 25 July 2016, with the other leasehold location due to complete on or around 1 August 2016.



The Acquisition constitutes a Class 2 transaction for the purposes of the UK Financial Conduct Authority's Listing Rules. The Acquisition, including external transaction costs, is being funded from cash resources already held by the Group.



Overview of the Acquisition



The locations being acquired generated earnings before deducting interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation of £2.9 million in the year ended 3 January 2016. The unaudited gross assets of the locations being acquired as at 3 January 2016 were approximately £10.9 million.



Opportunity and Rationale



Dignity currently operates 39 crematoria throughout the UK. Since flotation, Dignity has successfully acquired and integrated several crematoria locations into the Group. The locations being acquired provide the opportunity to expand the Group's geographical footprint into markets that are currently not served by the Group's existing locations and will therefore complement its existing locations.



Dignity anticipates that the integration of the Acquisition will involve limited reorganisation costs and minimal increase in overheads.



Allowing for the integration, the Group anticipates the annualised EBITDA from the Acquisition in 2017 to be broadly flat on the actual financial performance achieved in the 12 months to 3 January 2016. No cost savings have been assumed. The Group anticipates that the Acquisition will be earnings accretive in financial year ending December 2017.



Funeral acquisition facility



The Group also announces that, whilst not required to fund the Acquisition, it has extended the availability period of its £26.25 million debt facility with the Royal Bank of Scotland plc until 31 December 2016. This has allowed the Group to use its existing cash resources to fund this transaction, whilst maintaining appropriate resources for future corporate development activities that may arise.



Mike McCollum, Chief Executive of Dignity, commented on the Acquisition:



"This acquisition will allow us to extend our crematoria network into new geographical areas. It represents a good investment for Dignity, using cash already held by the Group, and supports our continued growth."





A conference call for analysts will be held at 10.30am on 31 May 2016. Please contact Buchanan if you have not received dial in details and wish to attend the call.



Further announcements will be made in due course.

Completion of acquisition of three crematoria

RNS


RNS Number : 4175C

Dignity PLC

28 June 2016








For immediate release 28 June 2016



Dignity plc



Completion of acquisition of three freehold crematoria locations from Funeral Services Limited



Further to the announcement on 31 May 2016, Dignity plc (Dignity or the Group), the UK's only listed provider of funeral related services, is pleased to confirm the completion of the acquisition of the three freehold crematoria locations from Funeral Services Limited (trading as Co-op Funeralcare).



A further two sites remain on track for completion at a later stage as previously indicated, pending consent of the relevant Local Authority and transfer of the trade and assets of the location to a new entity. All five crematoria are located in markets not served by existing Dignity crematoria.

Naked trader today - Interesting to see the shares which either didn't fall much at all or came right back to where they were this shows strength.

They include shares like the lovely Dignity (after all people aren't going to stop dying are they?)

1 Jul Berenberg 2,825.00 Buy

Interim results

27 Jul Investec 2,795.00 Hold
27 Jul Peel Hunt 2,400.00 Hold
27 Jul Panmure Gordon 2,750.00 Hold

Proactive investor -

Friday 4 Nov -Trading statements: Dignity PLC (LON:DTY)




Among the dribble of results and trading statements will be an update from the listed undertakers Dignity PLC (LON:DTY).
Broker Peel Hunt expects the company to return to growth after seeing earnings before interest and tax fall by 7% in the first-half

Third quarter trading update

7 Nov
Panmure Gordon
2,750.00
Hold
7 Nov
Investec
2,795.00
Hold
7 Nov
Peel Hunt
2,400.00
Hold

3 Mar
Berenberg
2,950.00
Buy

Preliminary results

Key points
·              Financial performance better than expected at the start of the year, as guided in November 2016;
·              Deaths broadly flat at 590,000 (2015: 588,000) and higher than originally anticipated;
·              Funeral market share decline is larger than seen before, which follows better market share than anticipated in 2015;
·              Focus remains on customer service, which continues to be high, with 98 per cent of clients saying they would recommend us;
·              Portfolio expanded through the acquisition of a total of 16 funeral locations and five crematoria in the period;
·              Total acquisition activity investment of £56 million (net of cash acquired) funded from existing cash resources;
·              Satellite location programme ongoing with 11 locations opened in the year;
·              Since the last trading update, the Group has obtained planning permission for a third new crematorium. They are all due to open in 2018/ 2019;
·              Another good year of pre-arranged funeral plan sales, with active pre-arranged funeral plans increasing to 404,000 (2015: 374,000), helped by trust and insurance based sales;
·              Starting to see potential opportunities from the use of digital technologies; and
·              The Group has acquired three funeral locations and one small crematorium since the balance sheet date.

Notification of Q1 Trading Update
RNS
RNS Number : 4547D
Dignity PLC
27 April 2017
 
For Immediate Release
27 April 2017
 
 
Dignity plc
 
Notification of Q1 Trading Update
 
 
Dignity plc, the UK's only listed provider of funeral services, will announce its first quarter trading update for 2017 on Monday 15 May 2017.
 
A conference call for analysts and investors will be held at 9am (BST).
 
To participate in the conference call, please contact:
Dignity@buchanan.uk.com 

First quarter trading update

15 May
Peel Hunt
2,400.00
Hold

4 Aug
Numis
2,750.00
Hold
3 Aug
Berenberg
2,950.00
Buy

Third quarter trading update

Profit warning.

Could see this coming months ago.

Yep=since mid 2017 Dirs have been selling . . .you'd think they'd have to make an RNS ann. -OR- did I miss it?
Clearly their sp is too high ( poor yield, for what is a regular cash generating business. ).... and £20+ was just silly.

Bought a few today.