Public funeral home operator Propel Funeral Partners released their Fiscal Year 2025 results recently and the results which cover the period of July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, show higher revenue and higher net profits for the company.  On the downside, however, Propel Funeral Partners (PFP) showed a contraction in funeral volumes among “comparable” funeral homes for the year.

As for the revenue and profits for the largest public Death Care company in Australia and New Zealand, the company recorded Revenue of US$ 148.74 million for FY25 as compared to US$137.81 million in FY24 — that’s an increase of about 7.9%.  PFP posted an increase in “Net Profit Before Taxes” of US$ 20.09 million in FY25 as compared to US$ 19.7 million in FY24 — that’s an increase of right at 2.0%.

Propel Funeral Partners did a funeral volume of 22,602 cases in FY25 which is actually 4.4% higher than the previous year.  However, not including new acquisitions and only “comparable” businesses the company reported a decline of 1% of voume in those funeral homes.  And according to their 2025 Full-Year Announcement, that you can access here, that’s on top of a contraction of 6% of “comparable” funeral volumes in FY24.

Again, according to that announcement, PFP added, via acquisition during FY25, three businesses that “focus on their core strategy of acquiring assets and social infrastructure which operate in the Death Care industry in Australia and New Zealand”.  Those businesses included two funeral home operators and a supplier of headstones and monuments.  All acquisitions in FY 25 came in the country of New Zealand where it appears that 65 of Propel’s 205 operating units are located.

In terms of the company’s outlook in their Full-Year Announcement the company made the following comments about what they will benefit from:

•  Favorable demographics in Australia and New Zealand
• PFP’s strong funding position
• Acquisitions to date and other potential future acquisitions

The company also noted that the 2026 fiscal year has started strongly by:

• Record monthly revenue in July 2025 — Monthly revenue of US$ 14.08 million
• Average Revenue Per Funeral growth of 2.7%
• Contributions from recent acquisitions

Click here for the Propel Funeral Partner’s FY 2025 Results Presentation.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I strongly suggest taking a look at the company’s Results Presentation.  I’ve always thought that comparing what the “Big Boys” are doing with the results of my own operations was a good exercise.

I found two items that would concern me about Propel’s financial operations.  First of all, nobody likes a decline in volume . . . and I believe that the larger operation one operates the more that is a concern.  I say that because a 100-call funeral operation can easily have a 10% increase or reduction simply by the highs or lows of deaths in the area.

However, when you operate 205 facilities in two different countries the numbers are greater and should balance out between one community doing an increase in a year and other operations doing a decrease in services a year.  Simply speaking, you are not just looking at the 12-month results of a 100-call funeral home.  That being said, the 1% decrease in “comparable” services is within a range of potential variances, but I would keep a watch on the number to find out if it becomes a trend.

Secondly, and an issue that many in the retail Death Care business have right now is the “Revenue per service” number.  First of all, an increase in cremation services tends to drive that revenue average down, but the inflationary price pressures funeral homes face means that we cannot allow that number to go down too far.

Propel Funeral Partners mentions that their FY25 Revenue per service US$ 4,427. . . .an increase of 2.3% over FY24.  Propel’s report says that is “in line with inflation”.

Proving my point about comparing data with the public companies —  The following was written in the NFDA Memorial Business Journal and recieved in my Inbox as I was writing this article:

“When it comes to running any type of business, data is worth more than its weight in gold. According to research by McKinsey & Company, companies that make extensive use of their analytics data are nearly three times likelier to have a higher ROI (Return on Investment) than their competition. They’re also 23 times likelier to acquire more customers than their competition and nine times likelier to retain more customers.”

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Statistics tell us that over 80% of Americans live within one hour of an urban area.  If the population of the USA is about 333 million then that leaves the other 20%, or almost 67 million people outside of those urban areas.  I’m one of those 67 million and I love where I live, but as this article and news video from Montana’s KTVQ points out,  sometimes there are inconveniences that happen because of the lack of urbanization in our communities.

The article points out that many funeral directors in Montana have an access problem in what we in the profession would call “Human remains air transportation”.  While it appears, according to the article, that human remains can be flown in when plane size and a trained staff is there to meet the plane, it also appears that having human remains leave the state by common aircraft carrier is a major problem.

At Billings, Montana’s Logan International Airport, according to the article, Manager Jeff Roach says there are a couple of problems –one of which is that the airport cannot transport human remains due to a lack of trained personnel and infrastructure. It appears that while remains cannot be flown out on common carrier, they can be brought in by plane.  Here’s what Roach says about that issue in the article, “When human remains come inbound, it’s much easier for them to have somebody arranged to pick those up. Whereas outbound, they need to have a place where they can safely hold the human remains until the flight departs.”

In addition, the size of the aircraft used is also a problem.  On that issue Roach says this, “It really needs to be on a mainline aircraft like a 737 or an A320 that has the cargo space in order to actually facilitate that. That’s a part of that whole equation that the air carriers also have to take into consideration.”

According to the article, some funeral directors in Montana have had to drive as far as Denver, Salt Lake City, or Fargo, North Dakota, to place human remains for air transportation.

Funeral Director Daily take:  On one issue it is probably the business law of “supply and demand” causing some of the problem.  That issue is the size of plane an airline flies in and out of Montana airports.  From my point of view, such as when I fly out of Fargo, North Dakota, most of the planes are the 30 to 50 seat varieties.  There just is not enough demand to fly in the larger planes such as the 737 or A320 which have, depending on configuration, between 150-200 seats. . . .and ample cargo room for human remains.

Smaller passenger travel airports are subsidized by the United States Essential Air Service mandate and that mandate dictates that the United States Transportation Department “subsidizes commuter and certificated air carriers to serve approximately 60 communities in Alaska and 115 communities in the lower 48 contiguous states that otherwise would not receive any scheduled air service”.  There is no mandate on the size of aircraft that will serve these regions.

Billings is not an “Essential Air Service” subsidized airport, but these airports in Montana are:  Butte, Havre, Glasgow, Glendive, Sidney, West Yellowstone, and Wolf Point.

The other issue mentioned by the airport manager, that of secured space for the holding of human remains, should find a solution if the funeral directors association, the airport, and the common carriers can determine the type of facility necessary and the cost sharing to staff such a facility.

Related —  The Essential Air Service mandate

Related —  United States Essential Air Service airport list

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