10/03/2011

Dignity plc Preliminary results for the 53 week period ended 31 December 2010

Dignity plc announces its preliminary results for the 53 week period ended 31 December 2010.

Financial highlights

  1. Underlying profit is calculated as profit excluding profit on sale of fixed assets and transaction costs.
  2. Underlying earnings per share is calculated as profit on ordinary activities after taxation, before profit on sale of fixed assets and transaction costs (both net of tax) and before exceptional items.
Revenue Up 8% to £199.1 million (2009: £184.7 million)
Underlying operating profit(a) Up 8% to £61.0 million (2009: £56.4 million)
Underlying profit before tax(a) Up 11% to £40.4 million (2009: £36.4 million)
Underlying earnings per share(b) Up 15% to 46.4p (2009: 40.5p)
Cash generated from operations Up 14% to £74.5 million (2009: £65.3 million)
Operating profit Up 5% to £60.4 million (2009: £57.5 million)
Profit before tax Up 6% to £39.8 million (2009: £37.5 million)
Basic earnings per share Up 12% to 46.9p (2009: 41.8p)
Dividends per share 8.88p final dividend proposed (2009: interim dividend 4.03p, final dividend 8.07p)
Return of value £63.9 million, equating to £1 per Ordinary Share returned to shareholders in October

Highlights

  • Strong trading performance from all areas of the business;
  • Cash generation remained strong;
  • Continued excellent customer satisfaction results, with 99 per cent of families saying we met or exceeded their expectations and 98 per cent saying they would recommend us;
  • £5.8 million invested to acquire 6 funeral locations. A further £6.4 million has been invested to acquire 3 locations since the period end;
  • 18 satellite locations opened within the funeral business;
  • Three additional crematoria have been added in the year;
  • Two further crematoria are due to open in 2011;
  • A very strong year of sales for pre-arranged funeral plans, with unfulfilled pre-arranged funeral plans increasing to 238,000; and
  • £81.8 million raised from issue of additional long term securitised debt, the majority of which was returned to shareholders.

Mike McCollum, Chief Executive of Dignity plc commented

“We have delivered on all areas of our strategy. Customer service is excellent. We have added locations in both the funeral and crematorium business and sold more pre-arranged funeral plans than ever before. The net result is a 15 per cent increase in EPS.

The return of value in the year means that an investor at the time of the IPO will have had nearly all their initial investment returned in cash and still hold shares in Dignity which, at the current market price, are worth approximately twice their original investment.

2011 has started well and the Board remains confident in the Group‟s prospects.”

For more information

Mike McCollum, Chief Executive
Steve Whittern, Finance Director
Dignity plc +44(0) 20 7466 5000

Richard Oldworth
Suzanne Brocks
Christian Goodbody
Buchanan Communications +44 (0) 20 7466 5000

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