Our Clients
Dignity
Dignity is the largest private funeral related services company. Based in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, Dignity owns over 500 funeral directors and operates 22 crematoriums across the country, committed to providing its clients with the highest standards of service.
The Group was created in 1994 through the acquisition by Service Corporation International ("SCI") of Plantsbrook Group and Great Southern Group, and subsequent to a £235 million management buy-out headed by Peter Hindley (CEO) and Mike McCollum (CFO) and backed by Montagu Private Equity Limited, the Company approached Buchanan to assist in their flotation in April 2004.
Dignity was admitted to the Official List of the London Stock Exchange, raising £113 million.
As an extremely cash-generative non-cyclical business, its dependable cashflows enable the Company to adopt a particularly efficient capital structure, which gives much faster growth in earnings per share relative to turnover and operating profit growth.
In February 2006, the Group issued a further £45.55 million Class A notes and £32.50 million Class B notes, issued at a premium and raised £86 million. The Group then returned £80 million (£1 per share) to shareholders on 11 August 2006.
Buchanan has advised on all aspects of the Group's financial calendar obligations, consultancy, strategy and the communication of the mechanics surrounding the sophisticated financial structures achieved above.
At flotation, Dignity faced a challenge within the City in that there was no directly comparable business model to allow financial analysts to construct forecasts, research and recommendations. Buchanan introduced City analysts to the Group, who began to form a core following and formed close working relationships with the management to support the Company in its promotion to investors. It is now followed by six major City broking houses and enjoys strong support from the financial media.