Problems continue for funeral provider Dignity

Funeral provider Dignity has said its profit continues to be impacted by fluctuations in the death rate and changes in its pricing strategy.

The Sutton Coldfield firm reported an underlying operating profit of £43.4m in Q3 2021, this has dropped to £14.1m in Q3 2022 – a 68% decrease.

Dignity says in order to be a ‘market leader’ it must invest across the whole business and therefore will prioritise key investment needs across the estate and facilities as well as increased operational and colleague costs

The group has confirmed the next stage of its at-need funeral pricing strategy, which seeks to provide value for money, through adjustments to a number of attended funeral fees. As part of the Group’s local business strategy, it seeks to enable pricing to be set locally based on insight, competitor landscape and business knowledge. Dignity expects that this will raise yields and cover the increases in its cost base.

Dignity has also been providing its new funeral plan product to customers of other providers who either have withdrawn from the market or who did not achieve FCA authorisation. Currently around 32,000 such families have decided to take on a new Dignity funeral plan.

Kate Davidson, Chief Executive Officer of Dignity said: “The third quarter continues to present some of the challenges we faced earlier this year, but with our new strategy well underway we are beginning to see positive indications of our market share growing. It is also promising to see tangible improvements to our workforce as we increase our headcount following the proactive steps we’ve taken.

“We remain focussed on our long term aims, and we believe that our strategy will deliver sustainable growth and value for shareholders, colleagues and clients alike.”