Dignity: Funerals giant returns to profit after ditching London and shedding hundreds of jobs
Funerals giant Dignity retuned to profit in its first full year since ditching the London Stock Exchange as it shed hundreds of jobs.
The Sutton Coldfield-headquartered group delisted in May 2023 after it accepted a £281m cash offer to sell itself to a group of investors in January.
Dignity was established in 1994 and listed on the London Stock Exchange ten years later.
Now new accounts show the group achieved a pre-tax profit of £7.2m in the year to 27 December, 2024.
The profit comes after Dignity made a pre-tax loss of £47.6m in the prior 12 months.
That loss came after the group slumped into the red to the tune of £327.9m in 2022.
It is the first time that Dignity has reported a pre-tax profit since its total of £32m in 2021.
The accounts, filed with Companies House, also show that Dignity’s headcount fell from 3,493 to 3,121 in the year while its turnover dipped from £329.7m to £326.3m.
Dignity makes ‘significant strategic progress’
Dignity said that its funeral volumes reduced by 10.1 per cent to 69,400 because of the lower national death rate and the closure of 90 branches “that did not meet the group’s financial return objectives”.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The business has made some significant strategic progress during 2024.
“The group delivered positive growth… primarily driven by strong cost management across the business despite a 3.5 per cent reduction in the death rate compared with the prior year.”
Dignity said it had repaid £137.7m of debt and raise £25.9m from the sale of its freehold property estate.
Earlier this year, Dignity sold six crematoria in a sale and leaseback deal for £43m.
At the end of January, the group’s deal to buy online end-of-life services firm Farewell for up to £12.9m completed.