Dignity shares take a dive
Dignity shares plummeted by 16.9 percent on Tuesday evening.
The company claims this fall is due to a significant fall in the amount of deaths and an increase in competition may have played a part.
The Board has said their expectations remain unchanged for 2017 and they expected a decline in deaths following the increase in 2015 and 2016.
A statement Dignity PLC release stated: “Given the increased size of the Group and increasing competition in each of our markets, the Board has revised its medium-term target underlying EPS growth rate to eight per cent per annum from the current 10 per cent.
“As with the previous target, this objective includes the benefit of the reinvestment of cash generated by the business and the Group’s ability to releverage its balance sheet either to fund acquisitions or return capital to shareholders.
Mike McCollum, chief executive of Dignity plc commented: “I am pleased with our financial and operational performance in the period. Our business has responded well to the needs of our customers, maintaining the high standards we set ourselves.
“Looking into the future, we anticipate further engagement with the Scottish and Westminster parliaments, as we believe regulation of the funeral and pre-arranged funeral markets is necessary to ensure every family receives minimum standards of care from appropriate facilities.
“We also expect to invest more in digital technologies that will help our clients and also act as a source of new business for the Group.”
