Dignity sees full-year profits ahead of market views after stronger Q4

Funeral services provider Dignity said on Tuesday that its full-year underlying profits will beat market expectations following a stronger-than-expected performance in the fourth quarter.

The company said in a brief update for 2018 that initial indications suggest there were 599,000 deaths last year, in line with the group's expectations. However, its operating performance was better than it had forecast as its comparable market share remained robust and showed small growth year-on-year.

In addition, average income from funerals remained higher than expected and overheads were lower than expected, partly due to the timing of some marketing spend which will now occur in 2019.

As a result, Dignity now expects to report underlying operating profits of around £79m, which is ahead of current market expectations.

At 1030 GMT, the shares were down 2% to 705.50p.

Independent retail analyst Nick Bubb said: "There has been a buzz that a 'hard Brexit' would do wonders for Dignity, which now calls itself 'the UK’s only listed provider of funeral related services', but the upgrade to full-year profits it has announced today is down to good old-fashioned operational outperformance in Q4: market share, average funeral income and cost control.

"The final results are on March 13, by which time the outlook for Brexit might be a bit clearer."

Dignity shares slid back in November after the Competition and Markets Authority announced that it was launching an investigation into the funeral market amid concerns about prices, following an initial market study earlier in the year.

Dignity said at the time that it "strongly supports the opportunity to improve standards within the sector and meet the expectations of consumers".