Dignity Share Discussion Threads

[hatfullofsky] 21/4/2021 15:53

Has anybody found the circular on the DTY website

[mr5k] 15/4/2021 13:50

It is clear that management do not want to talk about the pre need business. I read the CMA report and can confirm that many of the sites that present themselves as price comparison simply get you to hand over your contact details. One then receives a call and at no point are you presented with options.

The problem is that Dignity are paying away commissions of over £500 a year BUT many of these pre need plans are cancelled with in the first few years, potentially leaving the trust out of pocket. Yet the sales of these plans have accelerated in the last year (you can get the numbers from the recent statement).

So, why would management continue to sell these plans that are clearly not in the long term interests of the business? My guess is that Whiley is desperate to show revenue growth when in fact there is none as proof of his managerial expertise. The business needs is proper management and not turning on the incentive spigot to juice the top line! Moreover, this practise could jeopardise the financial strength of the trust and the company down the line with serious ramifications. This is what Phoenix must mean when they say "the vested interests favoured short term optics over long term shareholder value".

[mr5k] 15/4/2021 12:31

Indeed the salaries are paid by DTY plc

[cashstrapped] 14/4/2021 17:56

Mr5k Thanks so the employees are on salary from Dignity?

[mr5k] 14/4/2021 15:56

DTY own the funeral parlours and all the profits accrue to them. I don't know how prices are set or how much autonomy they have.

[cashstrapped] 14/4/2021 15:37

Can you tell me how the business works here please? Do Dignity take a percentage from the local funeral parlors who set their own prices etc or do the local parlors just work as employees of Dignity?In dispute with a local business at the moment so general advice rather than investment. TIA

[velocytongo] 14/4/2021 12:17

This guy Richard Griffiths is interesting .. he often pops up on the share register if there is some corporate action .. there might be something a foot with the crem business .. this is looking like a good each way bet: if Phoenix win the business will be much better run and the share price should be worth multiples .. if Phoenix loose the only viable exit without trashing the share price is if the whole business is put up for sale .. VT

[velocytongo] 14/4/2021 12:17

This guy Richard Griffiths is interesting .. he often pops up on the share register if there is some corporate action .. there might be something a foot with the crem business .. this is looking like a good each way bet: if Phoenix win the business will be much better run and the share price should be worth multiples .. if Phoenix loose the only viable exit without trashing the share price is if the whole business is put up for sale .. VT

[hatfullofsky] 13/4/2021 15:38

A 30% shareholder values the crematoria at £1BN, as I've been saying all along. I'm voting with Phoenix. Can't trust a board that can't hire a CEO or CFO

[imastu pidgitaswell] 13/4/2021 12:58

It's an entertaining spat - just about maintaining diplomatic/corporate norms, but at any moment I'm expecting someone to shout 'crook' or 'you smell'...

Always a difficult one to fathom 'fairness' when each side is accusing the other of being self-serving.

[hatfullofsky] 13/4/2021 08:14

It's what I have been saying for a very long time.

From the latest Open letter




"Listing the crematoria business separately while retaining a majority holding would be a way of raising capital and drawing attention to the value of Dignity’s shares. The level that similar assets trade at would suggest that this division would be worth over £1bn. Dignity could float that division, selling a minority stake, and raise a significant sum that would transform its financial position, give it the capital to invest in its future and unshackle some of the restrictions the bonds bring. It will also draw attention to the undervaluation of the existing equity."

[mr5k] 03/4/2021 13:07

The current board have to go. If they win the vote, you will have a company where the board is at war with the majority owner (30% of the shares). What calibre of CEO or CFO would want to navigate such a treacherous situation? That is not a sustainable situation.

Phoenix have already invested huge amounts to buy the shares and have much more skin in the game than the NEDs. The NEDs should accept their position is essentially untenable and let Phoenix install a management team who are better aligned with their longer term objectives.

[tnw78] 03/4/2021 12:13

The problem for Dignity Management is that it's hard to be credible when they have no CEO or CFO and the Executive Chair is part time. Meanwhile, Phoenix are not usually activists and clearly see something exceptional here that means they have had to step in. Without much information (eg on this pre need issue), I have to favour a long established fundamental value investor vs someone who does the job on a part time basis and a bunch of NEDs who are all fairly new to the business.

[imastu pidgitaswell] 01/4/2021 08:02

Getting messy - Pheonix responds:



The shareholder seeking to oust the executive chairman of Dignity has said that it acted after uncovering what it called “some very serious issues” in its pre-paid funeral plan business.

Phoenix Asset Management told fellow investors in an open letter yesterday that it had sent its concerns to Clive Whiley, Dignity’s executive chairman, but that his response “in dealing with the matter, internally and externally, left us no choice but to seek his removal as a director”.

Phoenix, which owns 29.9 per cent of Dignity, said that it could not disclose further details because it was bound by a confidentiality agreement with Dignity. It is seeking to replace Whiley, 61, with Gary Channon, Phoenix’s founder and chief investment officer, at a shareholder meeting on April 22.

The allegations regarding Dignity’s pre-paid funeral business are potentially significant as the Financial Conduct Authority is due to begin regulating the sale and administration of funerals plans next year in the wake of concerns about misleading and high-pressure sales tactics in the industry generally and a review by the Treasury. Companies are required to apply for FCA authorisation from September.

Dignity, one of Britain’s two big funeral operators, sold about 60,000 pre-arranged funeral plans last year, about a third of the market.


Dignity said that it had “listened carefully to the concerns raised” by Phoenix regarding the pre-paid business ahead of last month’s board meeting and a spokeswoman said yesterday: “The funeral plan sector is undergoing a complex consultation process with the FCA. It is of the upmost importance that considered and correct process is followed.”

[topvest] 31/3/2021 21:10

An interesting spat this. I would say that Phoenix are probably right. Phoenix are definitely trustworthy in my view, and so you have to question whether the Dignity Executive Chairman is a bit of a rogue. Just my thoughts. No position other than a holding in Aurora Investment Trust.

[imastu pidgitaswell] 31/3/2021 09:50

It's a good one this - from the sidelines still. Popcorn required:



Dignity, one of Britain’s biggest funeral operators, has accused its largest shareholder of trying to take control without paying a bid premium after Phoenix Asset Management moved to oust its executive chairman.

The company has revealed that Phoenix had prepared a formal bid for Dignity in the second quarter of last year when the share price was weakened and the company “on the back foot” from the pandemic, board changes and the pausing of its transformation plan.

Dignity urged investors to oppose attempts by Phoenix, which holds 29.9 per cent, to replace Clive Whiley with Gary Channon, Phoenix’s founder and chief investment officer, at a shareholder meeting next month.

Dignity’s response to Phoenix’s requisition notice yesterday also revealed that Phoenix threatened to requisition shareholder meetings on a number of occasions “to get its way”. This included, ironically, pressing for the appointment of Whiley as chairman in 2019.

It also said that Phoenix was behind the departure of Mike McCollum, Dignity’s chief executive who resigned suddenly a year ago, and that the search for a replacement had been suspended after Phoenix rejected a shortlist of candidates.


The escalating row brings to the surface a long-running breakdown in the relationship behind the scenes between Dignity and Phoenix.

The April 22 shareholder meeting comes after a downturn at Dignity, which has been battling a price war with the Co-op, profit warnings, criticism over a lack of transparency on pricing and increasing regulation.

Dignity, based in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, owns more than 800 funeral locations and operates 46 crematoriums in the UK. Attempts to respond to the pressure with lower prices and a restructuring have been hit by the pandemic and senior changes.

Dignity said Phoenix’s move was a “wholly unnecessary act . . . at a time when the board had been making considerable progress towards the completion of the previously announced root and branch review” due to report in June, and Whiley, 61, was having a “galvanising effect on the business”.

Dignity’s independent non-executive directors said Phoenix was not acting in the best interests of the majority of shareholders as a whole, “but is instead driven primarily by its own self-interest”, and said Channon had “demonstrated himself as lacking the skills and judgment required of someone seeking to be responsible for leading the executive function of a public company of Dignity’s stature”. Its non-executive directors have threatened to resign if Channon ousts Whiley.

In a letter to shareholders ahead of the meeting, Channon said Phoenix was not seeking to control the board, it would have one Phoenix representative, would not increase its shareholding beyond 29.9 per cent and has pledged not to make an offer for the company, unless a third party has bid.

“We believe that although the company faces many significant challenges as the funeral industry changes, there is great value to be unlocked if the right course is pursued in an expedient manner,” Phoenix said in the letter.

Shares in Dignity, which traded at more than £28 in 2016, closed down 41p, or 6.1 per cent, at 621p.

[hatfullofsky] 31/3/2021 09:35

Open letter to Shareholders

[mr5k] 19/3/2021 17:35

It's a strange s/p!

[hatfullofsky] 19/3/2021 17:03

Strange day

[mr5k] 17/3/2021 16:26

dprice1, imagine what they can do if they get the culture right. I'm sure with improved recruitment (I imagine former nurses with high levels of empathy would make excellent managers) and good training to encourage customers to buy what's right for them, this business could do very well. This business does not need to be a gauging one - the margins are good enough.

[dprice1] 17/3/2021 10:27

The biggest problem Dignity face is they collect independent business and run the majority of them into the ground. The staff morale is in the gutter and there is a significant culture problem at board and senior staff levels. Aside from all of that, along with Funeralcare and some of the up and coming corporates, they will improve their digital effectiveness to a level that the independent sector will not be able to compete. Despite their problems, the future is bright for Dignity.