Dignity Share Discussion Threads

[darius12] 16/8/2019 11:44

have the directors sold the options they've been granted here? I'm not sure I understand the RNS

[gripfit] 16/8/2019 08:22

What a f@@k up this one is ,,, a good solid cash cow gone to the abattoir !!

[peanut100] 14/8/2019 13:23

And CMA investigation - the shorts have nailed this one

[the real stan] 14/8/2019 12:53

Trouble is with a huge debt burden the share price might continue to look cheap all the way down to zero.....

[primarch1] 14/8/2019 12:19

Cheap for a reason huge debt doubt on future earnings and just cut the dividend chart doesn't lie.

[philw2009] 14/8/2019 11:54

This is looking pretty cheap now surely?

[darius12] 06/8/2019 17:35

have the directors sold the options they've been granted here? I'm not sure I understand the RNS

[the real stan] 06/8/2019 09:12

Remember that the investors who loved the sector did so because of the price inelasticity at moments of family grief. For too long Dignity have been able to take over small family businesses by stealth, sponge off the continuing customer loyalty by increasing prices then pull out huge dividends funded by debt. This game is exposed and hence over.

[jamie48] 05/8/2019 11:54

The CMA has already commented on Dignity's funeral prices being high even by international standards. Once the CMA finish their investigation and actually start to take action, Dignity will lose further volumes and have to reduce prices. Costcutting is the only way forward for them, but that won't go anywhere near getting the company on the right track again. They've had their (greedy) day.

[peanut100] 05/8/2019 10:54

Dignity's profit outlook remains tough due to the combined risks of significant regulatory overhang and considerable leverage, says Berenberg. The broker notes that the company can only grow profits through price, volumes or reducing costs. Investors will have to believe that Dignity is unaffected by the CMA's market investigation, that its transformation plan can reduce costs and that it can win market share over the medium term, it says. However, with demographics limiting market volume growth, and the CMA's investigation likely to limit pricing growth for the foreseeable future, Berenberg sees reduced costs and market-share gains as the only way in which Dignity can grow profits over the medium term. Berenberg has a hold rating on the stock with a target price of 570 pence.

[darius12] 31/7/2019 14:47

have the directors sold the options they've been granted here? I'm not sure I understand the RNS

[the real stan] 31/7/2019 13:44

Net debt £500m. 35% decrease to underlying profits. Balance sheet shareholders equity £66m: Balance sheet is shot to pieces and no wonder the dividend is stopped.

[salpara111] 31/7/2019 08:40

Agreed, I would have though that the divi cancellation would have driven it down at least 20%
I remember owning these a long time ago and selling out at about £10 having doubled my money only to watch in amazement as it went on to the stratosphere. I never could get my head around the valuation at more than £10.

[thamestrader] 31/7/2019 08:10

Surprised it isn’t more, maybe it will be later?
Or, maybe most of the nightmare is already priced in.

[jeanesy] 31/7/2019 08:06

Didn't think so. Down 9% !!!

[jeanesy] 31/7/2019 07:54

Dividend payments stopped !! Cant see the market liking this ?!!

[actony] 30/7/2019 10:12

Hi 14 year low on Dignity, with results tomorrow. Is all the bad news in now?Previously statement says in line with expectations. Thoughts?

[checkers2] 03/6/2019 22:10

IN FT LEX today:Dignity/funerals: profiting from loss

Poet and playwright Ben Jonson, pleading poverty, opted to be buried upright in Westminster Abbey. His worries about funeral costs are widely shared in the UK. They have risen at twice the rate of inflation since 2004. Politicians and regulators are determined to intervene.

A crackdown on the “shameful̶1; high pressure selling of pre-paid funeral packages is the latest salvo. The sale of these will be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, the Treasury says. Listed undertaker Dignity welcomed the move. Even so, its share price fell 4 per cent.

The move will hit Dignity’s pre-paid funeral business, currently a quarter of the whole. Bad publicity will reduce the popularity of the plans. Compliance costs will rise. The total impact should be modest. Dignity has already stopped booking profits when a plan is sold.

A much bigger investor issue is the full-blown investigation announced in March by the Competition and Markets Authority. Barriers to entry are low: the number of funeral companies rose 83 per cent between 1989 and 2017.

Dignity has just 12 per cent of the market, while its bigger rival Co-op Funeralcare has 16 per cent. Previously, the shares had been seen as a strong defensive investment. But a recent price war, along with news of the CMA probe, has hit Dignity’s stock hard. After losing more than three-quarters of their value since October 2016, the shares trade on a multiple of 11 times forward earnings, down from a long-term average of 18.

If the CMA does not opt for draconian remedies such as price controls, it is possible the shares have plumbed the depths. Dignity’s fortunes could turn, especially as the long-running decline in the death rate goes into reverse. But investors should steer clear until the CMA probe is over. Ominously, it singled out Dignity’s top-of-the-range profit margins as symptomatic of a market that is not working well for consumers. Bereaved families may be price-insensitive; regulators are not.

[jonesy2222] 03/6/2019 14:47

For many years Dignity has led calls for regulation and its research, published together with Fairer Finance has highlighted the poor sales practices and financial management risks that certain providers engage in.Well done Dignity

[jamie48] 03/6/2019 14:18

My tune is the same tune played by the Competition and Markets Authority, so take it up with them, jonesy2222!

The CMA said the profit margins at the biggest firms were high by international standards, with Dignity’s in particular “well above” those of similar businesses in other major countries.

[jonesy2222] 02/6/2019 16:55

jamie48 still playing the same tune .I wonder why? If we didn't know

[jamie48] 02/6/2019 15:50

Nothing decent about Dignity, jonesy2222. The report said that there was no evidence that higher prices equated with better quality funerals.

[jonesy2222] 02/6/2019 12:44

This is good news for decent operators like Dignity Co-op as it will put cowboys out of business.