Dignity Funeral Directors is now the name of a company once known as public company Dignity plc that was taken private in 2023.

The company is a funeral service provider based in the United Kingdom.  They recently reported their 2024 financials to the Companies House in Great Britain and in that report, which is Dignity’s first full-year of operation since the company was taken private in a buyout, Dignity Funeral Directors reported a pre-tax profit of US $9.7 million.  (Note:  All financial numbers in this article will be reported in United States fund amounts).

Here is an article about the company’s 2024 financial results.

That profit number turns around a pre-tax loss during the 2023 public/private convert year of US$  64.25 million and a pre-tax loss of over US$ 422 million in Dignity plc’s last full-year as a public company in 2022.

Here’s some other interesting information from the report:

• Dignity’s workforce has decreased to 3,121 from the 3,493 that worked for the company prior to the take-private movement

• The company had a 10.1% decline in funeral volumes.  Their case volume for 2024 was 69,400

• The company “shuttered” 90 branch locations because they failed to meet the company’s financial targets

• Dignity Funeral Directors reported they managed to pay down over US$ 185 million of debt and bring in free cash of US$ 35.0 million with the sale of the properties no longer used.

• Finally, Dignity Funeral Directors acquired end-of-life services firm Farewill in an acquisition announced at US$ 17.4 million.

You can read about the Farewill acquisition here.

Here is the website for Farewill.

Here is the website for Dignity Funeral Directors.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  All of this is interesting news.  However, there are some points to be made when digesting this news that are interesting and thought provoking as we all look at our own businesses. . . . and these points are probably good lessons to be reminded about. . . . .

Some see problems, some see opportunities — There is no doubt that when the company was on its way to pre-tax losses of over US$ 442 million in 2022, there are those that wanted out.  They probably saw problems and thought they would be insurmountable at worst and/or a lot of work to change the direction of at best.

However, the group that came together to buy the company and take it private, which included a former CEO, an insurance magnate, and private equity firms, saw opportunity.  That makes a point that cannot be stressed enought —  that different people can look at the same object and have much different perspectives.

Make sure that you look at both sides of the issues when contemplating buying or selling because even if you know what you want to do, it may make a difference on price if you understand all of the issues and possibilities.

Branches that are not profitable —  Sometimes we hang on to locations that are not profitable just because we have always operated them.  While there might be “strategic” reasons to do so, I would look at these branches very thoroughly to see if they really are an asset.

Many times, problem locations take more management effort than those locations that are fine-tuned, busy, and profitable.  Think how your operation might be more successful if you didn’t have to relegate time to forever putting a fix in at the problem locations.  You could probably use that time, and the cash lost at a problem location, to find a better location somewhere else or build up your profitable locations to become even more profitable.

It appears that Dignity has shuttered non-performing businesses and is using the cash generated to lower debt and make it a more reasonable and serviceable amount.

The “Nexus of Technology and Traditional”  —  Dignity Funeral Directors purchase of Farewill shows that they are willing to leverage some of their operation into what they must believe will be a growing opportunity for Death Care providers — Wills and Estates.

There are a lot of technology products already in the market that can make your business easier to operate at this time.  Make sure that you take the time to know what they are and how they may help your business.

If you never take the time to learn about these products you will not be helped by them. . . . .and in a competitive world, you might find yourself at a disadvantage.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

I don’t know where I first heard the saying, “Perfection is the enemy of progress”, but it always sounded somewhat strange to me until I really took the time to see what the cliche meant.  To me, it says that we all want progress, but if we wait until the time is perfect to move in that direction we will never move. . . . because the time will never be perfect.

I thought of the saying last week when the United States and Great Britain announced a preliminary deal on trade and tariffs.  When you look at the deal, neither side got every thing that they wanted — the United States got neither Great Britain’s weakening of standards on food imports nor did the United States get a finalized deal on how Great Britain’s digital services taxes will be levied on some of our large technology companies.

And, Great Britain did not get the tariff on automobiles brought into the United States dropped to its pre-Trump level of 2.5 % and had to settle at 10% — down from the Trump tariff number of 27.5% on automobiles but not down as far as they would have liked.

Those are just a couple of examples. . . but, if the countries had waited to hammer out those examples, it was probably likely that no deal at all would have been struck by now.  Therefore, I would argue “not perfection, but progress”.  And, as I’ve thought of my life experiences — you just don’t get any progress if you wait for perfection. . . . . I wish somebody would tell both political parties that. . .

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Over my entrepreneurial career I’ve also taken the slogan and changed it somewhat to say, “Perfection is the enemy of profitability”.  And, that is something I always had in the back of my mind when the thought process turned to change or enhancement of my funeral business.

For instance, if I waited for the interest rate to be “perfect” in my view I probably would never have added on or built new facilities.  If I waited to have the “perfect” staff situation I probably would have missed out on several great employees whom I hired when the “timing wasn’t perfect”, but the employee was.

There is a lot of decisions that one must make when they are operating a small business such as a funeral home.  Today’s article is just a reminder that the timing may never be “perfect” when you have to make some of these decisions.  However, that is okay. . . . the good business operator will fit that decision into the circumstances before him at the time and mold the decision into the fabric of the business operations.

So, if you are looking to buy, sell, expand, hire, or make any other business decision just know that the time will probably never be “perfect” to do so. . . . . and waiting for that “perfect” time will probably be your enemy.

Related — Here is an article on the USA-Great Britain tariff agreement as it was first announced.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”