LONDON (Alliance News) - Dignity PLC Wednesday posted a slight fall in revenue and a drop in pretax profit as it confirmed a comparatively slow start to the first half of the year.
Revenue for the FTSE 250-listed funeral provider was down 0.1% to GBP133.1 million in the 26 weeks to June 27, from GBP133.2 million a year earlier, while pretax profit was down 1.6% to GBP31.5 million, from GBP32.0 million.
However, the company said it will pay an interim dividend of 6.49 pence, having made no payout last year when it included the interim dividend in a GBP61.9 million shareholder return as part of a releveraging exercise.
The company said the slowdown had been anticipated owing to the strong start to 2013. Deaths in the first half of last year were up 5.6%, while the number of deaths fell 7% in the first half of 2014.
The firm said it retains its assumption for between 535,000 and 550,000 deaths in 2014, saying no individual year in the last 30 has seen a fall of more than 5% in the number of deaths.
"The group has continued to perform well despite the first half being significantly quieter than last year," said Dignity Chief Executive Mike McCollum. "Our financial expectations for the full year remain positive and unchanged."
Dignity shares were up 1.1% to 1397.0379 pence in early trade on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
