Matthews International is a company that in 2025 received over 50% of its revenue from what they call their “Memorialization” segment.  That segment consists of Aurora Casket, Matthews cremation products, and a complete line of cemetery products and markers.  During the past calendar year Matthews International also acquired Death-care oriented Dodge Company to add to its group of operating companies in that segment.

It’s also fair to say that they are a company that has seen transformation in 2025.  Of their three operating units at the beginning of the year, we already told you that they acquired Dodge Company for the Memorialization segment, but they also divested or sold a second operating unit described as the SGK Branding unit, and have seen their Industrial Technologies segment caught up in a lawsuit which has probably diminished sales in that segment.

The results of all of that transformation during their fiscal year resulted in Revenues for the 2025 Fiscal Year which ended on September 30, 2025, coming in at $1.497 billion as compared to the prior fiscal year’s (2024) total Revenue of $1.795 billion — a drop of over 16%.  Of course, the SGK unit did not operate all year, however, Memorialization and Industrial Technology segments also had lower Revenues in FY25 than they did in FY24.

Specific to the Memorialization segment, which we are most interested in, Revenues for FY25 came in at $809.5 million for the year as compared to $829.7 million in FY24 — a drop of about 2.5%.  One positive sign we noticed was that for the company’s 4th Quarter (July, August, and September) Memorialization segment Revenues came in at $209.6 million as compared to FY24’s 4th Quarter of $196.8 million — showing growth of 6.5%.  However, in relation to that increase, we must remember that Matthews International had the Dodge Company product revenue in 4Q25 and not in 4Q24.

Here are some prepared comments from Matthews International CEO and President Joseph C. Bartolacci in the press release (that you can access here) that relate to the Memorializion segment:

“I am pleased to report that we had a strong finish to fiscal 2025 as our consolidated results were ahead of our initial expectations for the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter.  Sales for the Memorialization segment and warehouse automation business outperformed their levels from the same quarter a year ago, and we continued to lower our corporate and other non-operating costs.  Please note that the divestiture of the SGK business was a significant factor in the year-over-year comparability of the Company’s financial results.”

“The Memorialization segment reported higher sales for the current quarter compared to a year ago, primarily reflecting the benefit of its recent acquisition of The Dodge Company.  Higher sales volumes for bronze memorials and inflationary price realization also contributed to the sales increase for the quarter.”

“For fiscal 2026, we expect continued growth in the Memorialization segment, particularly with the full year contribution from the acquisition of The Dodge Company.”

 

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Matthews International has been in business for 175 years so the time that they are taking in re-positioning who they are is a small time in that space.  However, for those of us that follow the stock, the re-positioning and strategic moves that coincide with that effort seem to be taking an eternity.

From my point of view the company in Fiscal Year 2025 derived about 54% of its revenues from the Memorialization segment, and with the SGK segment going away, you would think that percentage would increase next year unless the Industrial Technology segment grows rapidly — which they are waiting for.

However, I sometimes wonder if the company is missing the boat by not being more aggressive in the rapidly expanding technology segment of Death Care.  Much of their Memorialization segment revenue comes from “old, historic” Death Care revenue streams such as caskets and monuments.  I think in addition to those streams, a couple of new, faster growing, Death Care revenue streams – such as technology companies might bring – would fit this company very well.

Oh well. . . that is just my opinion.

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Matthews International, parent company of Matthews Aurora Casket, Matthews Cremation Solutions, and now Dodge Company, reported its Fiscal Year 3rd Quarter earlier this week.  When you look at the report you have to look at it in somewhat a different way than their report of the 3rd Quarter of 2024.

Since the time of last years 3Q report Matthews has sold the majority of their Brand Solutions segment business SGK into a new entity where Matthews is a minority partner.  They used some of those proceeds to pay down debt of about $120 million, and in 2025 their Memorialization segment purchased the well-known and popular Dodge Company.

In addition, Matthews International has been dogged by at least one large stockholder, Barrington Capital, to improve their operations.  Partly because of that, Matthews has embarked on a “Strategic Alternative Evaluation” that is supported by J.P. Morgan and according to the 3rd Quarter report “has identified several alternatives for further evaluation and consideration toward improving shareholder value and better alignment with the underlying value of the organization”.

So, when you look at the sales for 3Q25 as compared to 3Q24 it is difficult to have a comparison because of the changes to Matthews businesses.  With the sale of the SGK unit, sales for the consolidated Matthews International enterprises have dropped over 18% from 3Q24’s number of $427.8 million to this year’s 3Q total sales of $349.3 million.

However, even subtracting the reported $57.1 million gain on the sale of the SGK business in the 3rd Quarter, Operating Profits for Matthews increased for the comparable quarters from $6.7 million in 3Q24 to about $18 million in 3Q25.  And, net income improved from just under 2.0 million in 3Q24 to $15.3 million in 3Q25.

As for the Memorialization segment on its own, Revenue slightly increased from $202.6 million in 3Q24 to $203.7 million in 3Q25.  Here’s what Matthews CEO and President Joseph C. Bartolacci said about the Memorialization segment in prepared statements from the 3Q25 press release which you can read here:

“Sales for the Memorialization segment for the fiscal 2025 third quarter were higher than a year ago primarily reflecting the recent acquisition of The Dodge Company. We expect this acquisition to be nicely accretive to earnings as we leverage the benefits of our Memorialization commercial platform and we have already begun to realize synergies from integration. Sales volumes for caskets and cemetery memorials were modestly lower for the quarter primarily reflecting lower U.S. casketed deaths and the prior year sales benefit of granite backlog reductions. However, the earnings impact of these declines were offset by inflationary price realization and benefits from the segment’s ongoing productivity initiatives, which were significant factors in the segment’s improved operating margins.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I think the moves Matthews International has been making since shareholders issued some concern are good for the greater well-being of the company.  My personal opinion has been that, like some companies do, Matthews got excited about certain segments of their operation that they believe had or maybe still have great promise.  However, when turning attention to those segments they may have forgotten how the company was built to begin with — with the Memorialization segment.

I now think the Memorialization segment will take on even greater importance with the addition of Dodge Company products to the Matthews toolbox.  The “in” with current Dodge Chemical customers may allow the Matthews Memorialization sales department to make an inroads with caskets, cremation products, and cemetery products of those current Dodge customers who are not current Matthews customers.  The first-year sales trips to see those customers and introduce them to Matthews products will be very important.

When you look at the consolidated sales of the company in 3Q25 you will see that the Memorialization segment of the company now produces 58.3% of their sales.  That is in comparison to a year ago when the Memorialization segment contributed 47.4% to company sales —  that was prior to the SGK sale and the Dodge Company acquisition.

An interesting note about Matthews International stock —  In the past year Matthews International raised their dividend 4 cents per share to an even $1.00 per share on an annual basis.  That increase marks the 30th consecutive year that Matthews raised their dividend payout to shareholders.  With a stock price of $25.52 per share as I write this on Wednesday, August 6, that works out to a dividend yield of 3.92% annually.

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Service Corporation International (SCI) reported its 4th Quarter of 2024 as well as its 2024 Year End results last week.  Being as large a Death Care company as they are it is probably as close as one gets to an annual report on the status of Death Care in the North America when one digests their annual results.

Here is the press release from Service Corporation International on their 2024 4Q and 2024 Annual results which was released last week.

Here is what CEO Thomas Ryan said in prepared remarks in the press release, “We are pleased to report a strong finish for the year with adjusted earnings per share growth of 14% in the fourth quarter of 2024. This was driven by revenue growth in both our segments, which translated into solid gross profit performance and margin expansion. Growth in cemetery preneed sales production and higher funeral general agency revenue more than offset a decline in services performed during the quarter . . . . cash flow for the year allowed us to invest $181 million into the acquisition of 26 funeral homes and 6 cemeteries in major metropolitan markets and $62 million into real estate transactions to expand our footprint of funeral homes and cemeteries in our existing markets.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  There is a lot in this report and it takes some time to digest.  And, following the release of the company’s Earnings Call transcript I’ll probably provide more details and have more to say.  For the time being, here are some thoughts that I have. . .

Revenue: Total Revenue for SCI jumped from FY2023’s $4.099 billion to FY2024’s $4.186 billion — an increase of about $87 million or 2.11%.  The company probably also gained margin as the year went on because their 4Q24 revenue jumped 3.6% over the same number for 4Q23.  In my book, especially because they reported less services conducted on the year, that revenue increase is probably indicative of price increases.

SCI does report in their “Consolidated Funeral Segment” that revenue per services jumped to $5,651 in FY2024 over the FY2023 number of $5,536 — an increase of 2.1%.

Service Case Volume:  In the company’s “Consolidated Funeral Segment” results, SCI reports 355,074 services perfermed in FY2024 as compared to 358,873 services performed in FY2023 — a drop of about 1.1%.  From those numbers alone we don’t know if that drop is because of a loss of market share or simply because of less deaths occuring in their market areas.

Matthews International, in their quarterly report last week, explained away a lower unit sales of casket by what they termed as “less deaths”.  That may be correct and the case with SCI’s lower volume, but one might keep an eye on market share — especially when SCI tells us of the acquisition of 26 facilities during the year whose services numbers should also be included.  When contemplating that fact, however, we do not know when during the year, or even if, those acquisitions started contributing to the financial numbers.  In my opinion, however, the reported number of “Services Performed” will be a number worth watching in the future.

In what SCI calls their “Comparable Funeral Results” which is defined by “those businesses owned for the entire period beginning January 1, 2023 and ending December 31, 2024″,  the company shows an even steeper drop in “Services Performed” for the 4th Quarter of 2024.  SCI indicates a drop of 3,366 services performed during the 4th Quarter, compared to the year prior, which translates into a 3.8% decline for the period.

Again, that number being “Same Store” results. . . . is that indicative of a loss of market share or simply a number reflective of less deaths in their market regions?  I believe it is a number worth watching in the future.

Preneed:  In July 2024, SCI announced a new Preneed agreement with Global Atlantic as you can read from this Funeral Director Daily article on the subject.  We believe, that as is common with new partners, implementation to fine-tuned operations will take some time to get to.  In fact, the SCI report offers footnotes on that subject.

However, in reporting their “Comparable Preneed Sales Production” a Total Preneed sales dollar drop of 9.2% for the 4th Quarter of 2024 as compared to the 4th Quarter of 2023 is reported.  That, too, will need to be watched over time to see if the drop is simply in the implementation of a new policy, a change in accounting in moving from trusts to insurance-based preneed, or reflects a market share trend.

It could possibly reflect a market share trend based on the seemingly growing popularity of low-cost and/or online cremation puchases.  My thought is that the drop in preneed revenue could represent lower cremation sales prices to meet growing competition or simply losing clientele to lower priced online cremation providers.  In any case, this number bears watching in future quarterly reports.

Final Thoughts:  When I read these reports with my background in funeral home ownership I realize that the numbers simply give us a “point in time” reflection of a public company.  However, I think that bringing up questions and possibilities about the numbers is how one can “see into the future” to put their funeral home in the best possible situation to win customers in the future.

Disclaimer — The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily is a shareholder of Service Corporation International.

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Matthews International, which provides memorialization products and cremation solutions among its multi-faceted business segments announced their Fiscal 4th Quarter and Fiscal Year End results last Thursday.  Matthews operates on a fiscal year that ends on September 30 of each year.

While the company had some positive attributes for the quarter such as reducing company debt by $53.8 million, Sales and Adjusted EBITDA for the company both declined for the quarter and the year end in comparison to last year for the same time periods.  As a company, 4th Quarter 2024 Revenues totaled about $446.6 million for the quarter as compared to $480.1 million for 4Q23 — that’s a decrease of about 7%.  For the Fiscal Year ending September 30, 2024, Total Revenues totaled $1.79 billion as compared to FY2023’s number of $1.88 billion — that’s a yearly decrease in sales of about 4.8%.

Total Adjusted EBITDA for the company dropped to $205.1 million for the year compared to 2023’s Fiscal Year total of $225.8 million — a drop of about 9.2% on the year.

Matthews operates in three segments — one of which is the Memorialization Segment which includes cemetery products, caskets, and cremation products.  That segment is the largest, by sales of the three segments and accounted for about 46% of company sales.  It did, however, see a reduction in annual sales from $842 million in FY23 to $829 million in FY24 — a drop of about 1.6%.  The segment’s Adjusted EBITDA almost kept up with last years and can be basically called “flat” for the year — it actually dropped by less than 1%. . . from $163.9 million to $162.5 million.

Here’s what Matthews International President and CEO Joseph C. Bartolacci said in prepared statements in the press release about the Memorialization Segment, “The Memorialization segment reported higher adjusted EBITDA for the current quarter despite lower unit volumes, which were related to a decline in U.S. deaths compared to a year ago. Ongoing cost control efforts combined with improved price realization were the key drivers in the improvement in operating margins. . . . .We expect another solid performance for our Memorialization business in fiscal 2025 as U.S. deaths appear to have generally normalized following COVID and we are projecting continued growth in our cremation-related products sales.” 

You can access the Matthews International November 21, 2024, press release here.

Stock Price Rises:  Interestingly enough, on the news of lower quarterly and annual sales and profits, Matthews International stock price jumped almost 21% on Friday after Thursday’s market closed press release.  Matthews International stock closed at $30.84 per share after opening that day at $25.49.

It’s difficult for one to read into why the value went up over 20% in one day, but the company’s earnings press release did show the SGK Brand Solution Segment gaining sales and the situation of retiring over $53 million of debt.

It could also have to do with the Industrial Technologies Segment of the company and opportunities there.   Here’s an interesting statement that President/CEO Bartolacci included in the earnings press release, “Lastly, as growth opportunities for the Industrial Technologies segment continue to emerge, the Company has been exploring strategies with respect to its portfolio of businesses.   Accordingly, we have retained J.P. Morgan to support the evaluation of potential strategic alternatives.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  This is total speculation on my part but, it’s interesting for me to see the stock price jump to over $30 per share on Friday after not closing at that level since March 2024.  I think the terms “potential strategic alternatives” lead to speculation by many that there could be acquistions on the horizon by Matthews or there could be a divestiture of one of the Matthews segments to come.  Again, from my point of view there is plenty of money in the private equity circles looking to invest.

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It was a fairly uncommon occurence on October 30 when the two largest public funeral home and cemetery operating companies reported their 3rd Quarter results on the same day.  Both companies, Service Corporation International (SCI) and Carriage Services, reported “after the financial markets closed’ that day.  So, the first trading that could be done post-reports was Thursday, October 31.

It was obvious that shareholders and market watchers liked what they heard from SCI and Carriage Services because both companies stock price began increasing.  It was also interesting that after the Presidential election on Tuesday stocks, in general, had an advance through Friday’s closing.

Funeral Director Daily will not give any commentary on this issue but will provide some links where you may find more information on these companies at the bottom of this article for your use.

Here is how the stock price performed during those eight days between October 30 and November 8 for both SCI and Carriage Services:

Service Corporation International

• Stock Price as of closing on October 30:  $78.50 / share
• Stock Price as of closing on November 8:  $86.99 / share
• Percentage Increase:  +10.8%

Carriage Services

• Stock Price as of closing on October 30:  $32.65
• Stock Price as of closing on November 8:  $39.39
• Percentage Increase:  +20.6%

For comparison purposes, here are the closing prices of the Dow Jones 30 and the NASDAQ 100 for the period since the Presidential election:

Dow Jones 30:

• Stock Index as of closing on Monday, November 4:  41,794
• Stock Index as of closing on Friday, November 8:  43,988
• Stock Index Percentage Increase:  +5.2%

NASDAQ 100

• Stock Index as of closing on Monday, November 4:  19,963
• Stock Index as of closing on Friday, November 8:  21,117
• Stock Index Percentage Increase:  +8.8%

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Disclaimer:  The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily holds stock positions in both Service Corporation International and Carriage Services.

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Connecting Directors 2024 Deathcare Survey: The Results are In!

We’d like to offer our sincere thanks to the hundreds of Connecting Directors readers from 45 states who participated in our fourth annual Deathcare Survey! Your responses will inform and inspire the direction of our content going forward — and hopefully shed some light on how your experiences compare to those of your peers. 

Before we share some of the insights gleaned from three years of surveys, though, we’re happy to announce the three randomly-selected winners of $100 Amazon gift cards:

• Connor Hellwig,
• Cliff Lynch, and
• Erin Phelps!

Congratulations Connor, Cliff, and Erin! Watch for your digital gift cards via email. Now, let’s dig into the data.

About our readers

For the last four years, the majority (41%) of our survey respondents have served primarily as funeral directors, owners, or managers in the Generation X age group. Survey-takers in the Millennial and Boomer generations both numbered 24%, with less than 1% self-reporting as Gen Z. Male respondents (73%) outnumbering females (28%) … We’d love to hear more from you, ladies! 

The average number of calls managed annually dropped to 377, from 394 in 2023, and a most-likely COVID-related high of 475 in 2021. 

Your cremation rates, expectedly, increased incrementally, from 51% in 2021, to 52% in 2022, to 53% in 2023, to 54% this year. This is only slightly lower than the latest (2022) cremation rate of 59% published by the Cremation Association of North America (CANA).

Shifting challenges

One of our goals with Connecting Directors is to provide relevant and helpful information that helps you address issues and overcome challenges. Your responses to several of our survey questions help us do that. For the fourth year in a row, your top challenge remains hiring and retaining great employees. Last year, exactly half of our respondents were struggling with hiring and retention, up from about one-third (33%) in 2021 and 45% in 2022. This year, only 44% reported that recruiting and retaining employees was their top challenge, indicating that the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel we described last (increasing mortuary school enrollment) might be approaching reality.

Another glimmer of hope … While dealing with compassion fatigue and mental health in general is still a major challenge, this year only 28% of respondents noted this as a top issue, tied with rising cremation rates. This is the lowest compassion fatigue number in the four-year history of the survey; it’s down from 35% in 2023 and a survey-high of 38% in 2022.

Replacing compassion fatigue in the second-place spot this year is the problem of dealing with difficult and/or dysfunctional families. In fact, 31% of respondents cited this as a challenge, up a few points from last year. 

The most interesting information from this question this year was the appearance of a new challenge in the top 10: revenue generation skyrocketed to fourth place (27%) from 11th (18%) in 2023. 

You (still) love your job!

Since 2021 we’ve asked the question, “Which SINGLE activity do you wish you could spend LESS TIME DOING?” We asked this in the hopes that we could find products, vendors, experts, etc. — anyone or anything that could provide assistance with or perhaps completely eliminate these unwanted tasks. In 2021, so many people added “Nothing! I love my job!” in the “Other” field that we added that response as an option. Now, how many professions can make a claim like that?

Last year, that response topped the list. This year, though, as in 2022 and 2021, you most wished to rid yourselves of the time-consuming duty of dealing with problem employees and coworkers. 

Dealing with partners, including doctors, government officials, cemeteries, etc. rose up to fourth place (12%)  in the list from sixth (9%) last year. 

Getting the word out

When it comes to marketing techniques, “word of mouth/referral” still reigns supreme as the most popular (95%) and most effective (56%) methods you use to reach new families. Community involvement, a highly recommended tool for interacting with folks, is a close second in both categories (93% of you have tried it, and 30% find it effective). 

Interestingly, though, although most of you have tried other methods of marketing — 73% have even used paid social media and search engine strategies — the tried-and-true tools still reign supreme. In fact, only 2% to 4% of respondents said that these alternative marketing methods have actually been the most effective techniques for their businesses.

The vast majority of respondents (48%) also shared that marketing is part of their job … on top of everything else you do as a deathcare professional. Another 23% are lucky enough to have a person on staff who takes care of that for you. And again, we have to throw in a gratuitous recommendation for the one-and-only Ryan Thogmartin and the DISRUPT team, who are always ready and willing to take this task off your hands!

Speaking of Ryan and friends and their areas of expertise, when it comes to social media, most of our respondents (82%) use Facebook to market their services as a deathcare professional, with Instagram (22%) and LinkedIn (16%) placing second and third.

Less “conventional” social media platforms for deathcare — YouTube, Twitter/X, Snapchat, and TikTok — remained at the bottom of the list for the fourth year in a row. Interestingly, the fourth place response in answer to the question of which social media channels you actively use was “None of the above,” with 15% of respondents reporting that they still don’t participate. Fifteen percent!! 

Of course, in this digital age, where the average percentage of Americans who do not use social media was less than 7%, we wanted to know why. Apparently, most of the blame lies with the lack of time to implement, create, and monitor social media content; 34% of respondents said they’d use social media for their businesses if there were only more hours in the day, with another 15% saying they’d do it if they had someone else to manage it for them. Another 23% still aren’t convinced it’s actually worth the time and effort.

What’s next

These statistics are just the tip of the iceberg of the incredibly interesting data you shared with us in the 2024 Connecting Directors Deathcare Survey, and we’re excited to share it with you. Next up, watch for content that incorporates your responses (you’ll especially want to see what we found out about posting prices online!) and responds to your requests and needs. Stay tuned!

American funeral home and cemetery operator Carriage Services recently shared the results of their 4th Quarter and Year-End financials with the public.  In doing so, and in spite of a continuing COVID “pull forward” impact resulting in modest declines in funeral contract volume experienced during the year, the company reported total 2023 revenues 3.3% over the prior year.  Revenues for the year of 2023 came in at a total of $ 382.5 million as compared to 2022 revenues of $ 370.2 million.

The revenues for the 4th Quarter of 2023, which may be an indicator of an abatement of the “pull forward” pandemic death rate effect, came in at $ 98.8 million compared to 2022’s 4Q revenue of $ 93.9 million — an increase of 5.2%.

According to the earnings press release from Carriage Service, which you can access here, these results of increased revenue came even though the company had a “modest decline in funeral contract volumes” believed to be caused by the pandemic death “pull-forward’ effect.

In prepared remarks in the press release by Carriage Services President and CEO Carlos Quezada it was stated, “This success in growing our top line stems from our targeted efforts to better leverage our pricing power, which drove improved average revenue per contract. . . . This momentum, marking four out of five consecutive quarters of solid performance, instills confidence and excitement in our core initiatives as we advance into 2024 and focus on fulfilling our new purpose statement, which is ‘Creating premier experiences through innovation, empowered partnership, and elevated service.’”

The approximately $12 million in revenue increases can be accounted for in this manner according to the press release:

• A 9.4% increase in the average price of preneed interment rights sold
• An 8.6% increase in the number of preneed interment rights (property) sold
• A 0.9% increase in average revenue per funeral contract
• A 2.4% decrease in the number of funeral contract volume

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Even though Net Income for 2023 dropped about $8 million for the 2023 calendar year for Carriage Services, there is a lot to like about this report.  Profits generally declined because the company’s interest payments went to about $36 million per year from about $25 million per year  —  Which in my opinion has a lot to do with interest rates, in general, rising over the past couple of years.

When you look back to 2019, the last year of complete results prior to the pandemic, total revenues for the company have jumped almost 40% — from $274.1 million in 2019 to $382.5 million in 2023.  And, Adjusted Net Income has jumped to over $34 million from about $22.5 million over the same time period. . . . even while the company is paying almost double in interest costs.  If interest rates drop as expected in the near future, the pandemic “pull-forward” effect continues to be reduced, and the company can continually control their operating costs, even better times may be ahead for Carriage Services.

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