Dignity and Impudence by Sir Edwin Landseer
Dignity Plc said its profit for the first half rose about 11 percent on strong performance in its funeral services and crematoria businesses.
The company said its underlying pretax profit rose to 27.5 million pounds ($43.16 million) for the 26 weeks ending June 29 from 24.7 million pounds a year earlier.
Dignity, which operates a network of 616 funeral locations throughout the United Kingdom, said revenue grew about 8 percent to 116.5 million pounds.
Revenue from its core funeral services business grew about 7 percent to 81.6 million pounds. The business contributes 70 percent to its overall revenue.
Revenue from its crematoria business grew about 9 percent to 23.7 million pounds.
The company raised its interim dividend by 10 percent to 5.36 pence per share.
The FTSE-250 company’s shares, which rose about 7 percent in the last year, were up about 1 percent at 856.5 pence on Tuesday the London Stock Exchange.
616 outlets, making 70% of 27.5 million quid between them, means that every Dignity funeral director’s shop front you pass in the street will make (average) £600 profit out of its local dead by this time next week. That’s £600 clear of paying for those shiny vehicles and the staff’s wages and the company’s income tax and the cost of goods they sell and… Every single one of them.
Someone do the sums for their profit on each cremation, would you?
How much profit does the average one man plumbing business make a week Jonathan?……..probably more. There isn’t much rational thought on this site at times.
I take it you’ve been a plumber, Davey. How did you do it? When I was in a gang of bricklayers we used to just about break even out of our earnings. Six hundred quid clear profit each week between us on top of takings would have been, well, unthinkable.
But of course there’s a subtext to our irrationality at times; apologies if we overlook our unstated assumptions about matters we’ve been over so many times before. The point I’m making about Dignity is that… well, you’re quite right actually Davey, it’s that I don’t care much for their service model, that’s all. It’s too stiff and unloving. Let Dignity have their money (that I begrudge them!) by all means, but let their clients have a bit more hands-on human support and a little less doffing of top hats during an emotional storm.
No Jonathan, I have never been a plumber, nor worked as a funeral director. My grandfather was also a bricklayer and If i could be a penny behind him then i would be a rather happy man. He was never independant and worked for small building firms his whole life, and still came away with a handsome wage for the entirety of his career. Such is life, business’s, large and small, make money.
All these gripes about how much money large companys earn make no sense. Do independant funeral directors not lead comfortable lives? Are the majority of them struggling to put food on the table?
While I was researching for my uni project I made some enquiries about a fairly small funeral company local to myself whom several years ago, sold out to a reasonably large company, the fee paid ran into millions! Thats a pretty nice retirement fund for the owner if you ask me, nevermind the profits he generated over the years…….. Poor bugger ay.
I”ve heard several similar stories from different areas aswell.
I realise these subjects have been covered so many times before, the same arguments, and same gripes…..from the same people, appear time and time again.
In all fairness, It’s a bit sad.
Take a step back and put yourself in someone from outside the funeral worlds shoes. Actually read the things you say.
How can you condemn what I would imagine are thousands of hardworking, caring people and label them because of your perception of their employers?
Hows that for a qwerty warrior statement?