Dignity to shut ‘around 100’ funeral parlours

Funeral service provider, Dignity, has announced it is to close “around 100” funeral parlours as it looks to compete with the rest of the market.

Dignity boss Mike McCollum said the company was aiming to make “some headcount reductions” over the next 10 years as the company scales back.

The company overhaul comes in response to increased competition in the funeral market forcing Dignity to reduce prices in order to retain market share.

Dignity also aims to separate back office networks of hearses and mortuaries from its branches as it phases out underperforming branches.

Yesterday (Wednesday 1 August) the company announced it had seen an increase in revenue of three percent and a decrease in profit before tax of six percent for the previous financial year.

McCollum said: “We are pleased with the strong and better than originally expected financial performance in the first half of this year. Strong cash generation will support planned investments and costs which form part of our plan for the funeral business.

“Our focus remains on building a new lower cost model in our funeral business which will provide more competitive prices and a superior, future ready proposition.”

He added: “We have made good progress, but it is still early days. We have completed our operating review which has yielded a three part transformation plan while our trials continue to yield valuable information. We are confident that the changes will position Dignity for long-term, sustainable and profitable growth while maintaining the highest possible standards of client service.”