LONDON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- British funeral firm Dignity announced Monday that its underlying operating profit slumped in the first quarter of 2019, compared with the same period last year.
Dignity, Britain's only listed provider of funeral related services, said its underlying operating profit dropped 42 percent to 21.7 million pounds (about 28.2 million U.S. dollars) during the 13 weeks ended on March 29, 2019.
The company's quarterly financial report showed that its underlying revenue dropped by 15 percent year-on-year to 81.1 million pounds (about 105.6 million dollars).
In the first 13 weeks of the year, the company performed 19,200 funerals, down from 21,400 funerals in the same period last year.
Mike McCollum, chief executive of Dignity, said, "Our primary focus for 2019 remains the execution of our transformation programme, which seeks to build a more coherent, cohesive and technology-enabled business, geared to meeting the changing needs of our customers, whilst remaining focused on excellent client service."
"This will deliver our vision to lead the funeral sector in terms of quality, standards and value-for-money," said McCollum. "Whilst the number of deaths in 2019 may mean that our short-term financial performance is lower than we originally anticipated, I am confident that the changes we are making will allow us to generate sustainable growth in the medium to long-term."
