Dignity (#DTY) – recommended 550p per share offer
- 2023-01-23 07:57:17
UK 13:55 Monday, 26 October 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
There is more fun this morning at Dignity (DTY) I see. Just under a month ago HERE, I wrote about the funeral related service company that its ‘underlying profitability is still sharply down as the heightened competitive realities continue to impact’ and the share ‘remains a strong avoid for me’. Since then the shares have been either side of 650p and are little changed this morning after the announcement of a ‘Response to statement made by Phoenix UK Fund Limited ("Phoenix") on 12 April 2021’. So what is going on?
Back in August I observed the Competition and Markets Authority giving funeral operator Dignity (DTY) a bit of a free bus pass. Back then I was wholly unconvinced this had changed the investment story sufficiently to warrant the share price romp that occurred, observing that 'it feels to me as if another shorting opportunity is building'. Well if you had got your timing about right that would have worked out pretty well, with the share peaking at just over six quid after the update before falling about two quid in the subsequent few weeks. Good darts if you are smart. I kind of feel that an akin opportunity is building again...
You have probably already figured out that I am not a great biblical scholar, but reading the thoughts of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on the funeral sector today reminded me of the words of Saint Augustine who recounted that he would pray - in his earlier days - "Lord, make me chaste—but not yet." I do not want to come over as aggressively harsh so I will presage these thoughts with the observation that everyone impacted by the health consequences of the pandemic has my sympathy. However, the CMA has fudged its in-depth market investigation into funeral services in a major way - to the detriment of the average consumer - by citing the pandemic as a reason not to be fiddling with the sector at this moment in time...
You all know I have been bearish about funeral provider Dignity (DTY) for a long time, from my inaugural January 2018 posting as the shares fell from a teens quid share price here noting that the bottom of the page is not the bottom of the chart, to here back in March where, with the shares having a '3' in front of them, I switched to a 'popcorn' rating. Since then the shares have fallen further and now trade with a '2' in front of them. I should have continued listening to my own advice: the bottom of the page is most certainly not the bottom of the chart. I do have to give Dignity some credit with reference to today's update...
Unless a company is going bust, there is a point in most sells or shorts where even the sceptic has to admit that everything is priced in. Typically this happens when a company comes out with an update which is far from tremendous but the shares go up. Which brings us to Dignity (DTY), the funeral provider which I last wrote on in July – observing 'I seem to recall being hassled at the ten quid level by people convinced of value here. Dignity is not going bust but it is a changing world in the space. I am still avoiding it'. Today's update had its good and less good aspects…
The last time I wrote about the UK's largest funeral provider Dignity (DTY) back in March, I observed 'we cannot buck death...but you can continue to avoid Dignity's stock' due to all the challenges facing both the company and the sector. Today's first quarter update makes for continued grisly reading and - as I write - the share is down a further 6%...
Fresh from a brief trip north of the Watford Gap - from which I somehow returned without any obvious injuries or ailments - I see that my old pal Dignity (DTY) has puckered up another news update...and it confirms that life for the UK's only listed provider of funeral related services remains very difficult...
After a couple of days having a few business meetings in The Promised Land it is back to the reality of the UK market...and a basic observation that we all know about competition in food retail but we are all still learning about competition in the business of death. And you know the stock market really, really dislikes unanticipated extra competition…
