Dignity Share Discussion Threads

[miti 1000] 29/1/2018 15:10

ain't that the truth !

[bookbroker] 29/1/2018 11:07

This is going to have to raise capital, collapsing share, collapsing revenue, collapsing margins, collapsing profit, and RISING net debt!

[ltcm1] 26/1/2018 15:06

Lol lefrene. It would be free heat for the customer fulfilment centres too.

You would think Saga would start one too really. How hard can it be???

[waldof] 26/1/2018 14:52

I didn't know Will Writing had died!

[lefrene] 26/1/2018 13:18

ltcm1, I can just see an Amazon artic truck stacked to the roof with bar coded coffins queuing at an eco power station, recycling 140 bodies in each loading of the furnace. In due course a "community" urn of ashes would arrive with the groceries :¬) Yes if there's a commercial angle to it then it's not beyond possibilities, no doubt including Will writing too.

[ltcm1] 25/1/2018 22:53

Well you can have a basketweave type one and get buried where they plant a tree for you.

How long before Amazon go into the burial and cremation game???

[bookbroker] 25/1/2018 11:22

It’s time we started to think of the number of trees chopped down to make coffins, disgraceful!

[bookbroker] 25/1/2018 11:21

What a waste!

[failedqs] 25/1/2018 10:16

Bookbroker post 1308 - you're wrong, the "wonderful coffins" are cremated with the body, they are not re-used.

[bookbroker] 25/1/2018 09:37

This will need re-financing, if their profit is expected to take a big hit, they have to cut the dividend big time, or raise some dough, already stated that 2018 is a write-off!

[redartbmud] 25/1/2018 09:16

Hils

I factored into my calculations the possible further share price fall to £12.50.
I did not expect it to reach that level so soon.

red

[lomax99] 25/1/2018 08:16

From Shares magazine:

Market shock after Dignity unveils radical new pricing structure
Analysts spell out the impact on profit and ability to keep servicing debt

The stock market can have a nasty habit of dishing up unexpected news and we’ve seen many examples over the past few weeks.

Retailer Carpetright (CPR), logistics firm Connect (CNCT) and teleradiology services group Medica (MGP) are three examples of stocks that have taken the market by surprise with negative news this year.

You can now add funeral services provider Dignity (DTY) to the list.

Its shares fell 48% to 988.81p on 19 January 2018 after the company announced a dramatic change to its funeral pricing in order to deal with competitive pressures.

This decision was a shock to shareholders, analysts and the media including ourselves, as the company hadn’t previously talked about making such severe changes to its business.

Analysts were forced to downgrade their 2018 pre-tax profit forecasts by nearly 50% for 2018.

WHAT’S HAPPENED?

Dignity’s ‘simple’ funeral price has been reduced by 25%, from £2,700 to just below £2,000.

Furthermore, Dignity is freezing the price of ‘traditional’ funerals at circa £3,800. Stockbroker Numis says prices for these types of funerals would normally go up by 5% a year.

Dignity says the pricing changes could result in ‘simple’ funerals accounting for 20% of all its funerals performed in 2018 versus 7% in 2017. ‘Traditional’ funerals last year accounted for 60% of Dignity’s volumes.

Michael Donnelly, an analyst at stockbroker Panmure Gordon, believes ‘this aggressive and decisive action’ will provide a strong response to increasingly aggressive competition from both Co-operative Funeralcare and others. ‘That should, in due course, arrest the decline in Dignity’s market share and, eventually, allow (inflation-level) price rises to resume,’ he adds.

Based on forecasts from investment bank Investec, Dignity now has a net debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) ratio of 5.7 times for 2018. Most companies try and keep that ratio below 3.5-times. Dignity’s net debt is forecast to be £494.1m at the end of 2018.

Essentially, the pricing amendments mean Dignity’s debt position compared to its forecast earnings is now at a much higher level, leading some investors to worry about its ability to service the debt. Investec says it has no concerns on that front.

‘According to the latest bondholder report (for September 2017) Dignity’s financial covenants require EBITDA to be at least 1.5 times the debt service cover, which is £33m each year out to 2049,’ comments Investec.

‘We now forecast EBITDA of £86.4m in full year 2018 and £89.3m in full year 2019, some 2.6-2.7 times the debt service cover. Indeed the crematoria business alone generates some £40m of EBIT each year.’ (JC)

[iamnotanumber6] 23/1/2018 13:37

Could be the RNS, entrepreneur taking a 4% stake

hxxps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/founders-18-5m-stairlift-to-heaven-jr3tgvjpc

[tyranosaurus] 23/1/2018 13:22

Why the big rise in the share price ?
Has somebody died ?

[bookbroker] 23/1/2018 13:09

Ignoble, all that expensive wood and brass fittings, they do not cremate you in that, ok maybe ur loved ones were buried, but anyone who thinks you are cremated in those wonderful coffins is in for a shock, I would not be surprised if they re-use them over and over again!

[ignoble] 22/1/2018 21:03

Yikes
I am quoted around £1500
Body to mortuary until cremated, necessary paperwork , cremation costs and return of ashes etc.
Still a lot of money ....

[redartbmud] 22/1/2018 20:04

ignoble

A close friend went for the wicker basket and no minister, or other representative, as neither he nor his wife and children are religious.
They kept the body at home - they hired a dehumidifier until the funeral.
An estate car was used to transport the body to the crematorium

Cost more than £2k!!

[mozy123] 22/1/2018 16:40

You lot are mad.

[ignoble] 22/1/2018 16:25

Lol
Lefrene

[kuss1] 22/1/2018 15:44

How much does it cost to bury someone? If you take out the fixed costs for the cemetery etc.. Hire a car for the day, add on the service. I reckon someone will do it for £700. So why do they charge 3-4,000?

Dty are stuffed. Just like the black cabs. You don't need the knowledge anymore as you have sat-naves. Someone will drive for the minimum wage.

They call is a disruptive industry. It's just the price point and the competition.

Dty might not even survive ...

Don't have a position either way. Just my thoughts.