Is defensive Dignity too cheap?
The threat of rising competition and a regulatory enquiry has taken the shine off Dignity's defensiveness. But although we agree that a correction was overdue given the group’s historically high valuation and rising pressures, we now think the sell-off has now been overdone.
No-one has ever said “good thank you” in response to the question “how was the funeral” – burials are not a time for positive adjectives. But I recently went to a particularly bleak crematorium. It was cold, dark and smelt strongly of cats. It was owned by Dignity (LON: DTY). A rise in low quality crematoria, so obviously lacking investment, is why the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently launched an investigation into the UK’s funeral industry where Dignity is the second largest operator. Critics say the exorbitant price rises of recent years are not justified by the low-quality services on…