Tuesday, April 26, 2011
PITTSBURGH, April 25, 2011 – Matthews International Corporation today announced earnings for the quarter ended March 31, 2011. Net income attributable to the Company increased to $16,587,000 for the fiscal 2011 second quarter, compared to $15,931,000 for the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share for the fiscal 2011 second quarter were $0.56 per share, compared to $0.53 per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2010, representing an increase of 5.7%.
Sales for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 increased 9.6% to $220,151,000, compared to $200,866,000 for the second fiscal quarter a year ago. The improvement from a year ago reflected sales growth in the Company’s Brand Solutions businesses and higher unit volume in the Casket segment, in addition to the impact of recent acquisitions. Consolidated operating profit for the three months ended March 31, 2011 was $28,485,000, compared to $27,118,000 in the same quarter a year ago, representing an increase of 5.0%
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Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Hundreds of funeral mourners dressed up as Disney characters to celebrate the life of a film fan.
Cartoon lover Claire Whitehead died from cancer at 22 without realizing her life-long ambition of visiting Disneyland.
So friends and family decided to bring Disneyland to her – and pay a fitting fancy dress tribute.
A colorful array of costumes from classics – including Beauty and the Beast and Snow White – paraded through the streets as Claire’s coffin was carried from Newhey to Rochdale crematorium.
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Monday, April 25, 2011
Her 14-year-old dog Mico had lung cancer, and Coleen A. Ellis knew she was taking her to the vet for the last time.
She watched as the vet started to put the terrier schnauzer’s body in a garbage bag.
“I couldn’t just walk out of there with a leash and a collar,” she said. Instead, Ellis took Mico’s body home.
A local funeral home agreed to cremate Mico. As she waited in the chapel, Ellis said she was told they couldn’t turn on the lights because they were having a service for “a real death” down the hall. She vowed to make changes.
A year later, in 2004, Ellis opened what is thought to be the country’s first stand-alone pet funeral home in Indianapolis. Today, there are more than 750 pet funeral homes, pet crematories and pet cemeteries across the country — and many human funeral homes have or are looking at ways to offer services when pets die.
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Monday, April 25, 2011
Milford, Ohio – Howard Riggs is pleased to announce Craver-Riggs Funeral Home and Crematory has recently partnered with Disrupt Media Group. “The agreement was signed on March 1st, and we look forward to working with Disrupt Media Group’s social media experts to build our online presence,” shared Riggs.
“Our partnership will focus on creating massive viral visibility for Craver-Riggs Funeral Home and Crematory,” declared Ryan Thogmartin, founder of Disrupt Media Group. “This means we effectively use the powerful online marketing platforms to ensure greater visibility, website traffic, and convert leads into customers.
“We knew marketing has shifted from the old-school, one-way broadcast, to a multi-point conversation -but we had no idea how to make the shift in our own marketing plan,” revealed Howard Riggs.
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Friday, April 22, 2011
Although much has been written about two uncertainties in life, none is more famous than a letter written by Benjamin Franklin to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789, in which Franklin stated, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. While death can be considered one of the two certainties in life, several unfavorable secular trends are hampering longer-term growth and profitability in the death-care industry.
Firms in the death-care industry have several qualities that, on the surface, make for solid investments. Firms like Service Corporation International (SCI) and Stewart Enterprises (STEI) generate robust positive free cash flow. The industry’s largest player, Service Corporation consistently generates roughly $250 million in equity free cash flow on average, equating to a free cash flow yield of 9%. Stewart generates roughly $55 million of equity free cash on average, with a three-year average yield of almost 8%. Additionally, these firms have a track record of repuchasing their own shares, and issuing albeit modest dividends.
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
Statement from Marl, Kuhn, President of the Funeral Directors Service Corporation, regarding the California Attorney General lawsuit filed April 18:
“The Attorney General is using a flawed state audit report launch a lawsuit that appears strongly motivated by grandstanding.
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
Digital Death Day North America
May 6, 2011
Computer History Museum
Mountain View, CA
http://digitaldeathday.com
Digital Death Day North America is the annual gathering of 75-125 attorneys, entrepreneurs, researchers, archivists and thought leaders in the digital death and legacy arena. It’s your opportunity to help shape the evolution of our emerging industry by participating in the
conference.
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
Shortly before midnight on July 23, my father died in my arms.
He was in his bedroom, with two of his four sons and his wife of 44 years. His odometer stopped just shy of 92: a great life and a good death. He had always considered himself lucky.
Five days earlier, Emil Mikula made his wife, Peggy, breakfast before they went to Sunday Mass. Typical for him, he tended to some yard work after that. Later that afternoon, he experienced a pain in his gut so intense he went to the hospital. He would never stand on his feet again.
He’d been diagnosed with colorectal cancer 10 months earlier, and doctors were prepared to operate on him to remove the tumor. Now, surgery was the only way to repair the intestinal rupture that was killing him.
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Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Safford Productions Inc. Is looking for the next reality TV family for a new show.
“The Undertakers”
A real life comedy/drama that follows the unusual lives of a family of undertakers. Think a real life “Six Feet Under”. Do you get the strangest requests from people everyday in regards to how they want things to come to their final resting place? Do you know more than most when it comes to caring for the desist?
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Wednesday, April 20, 2011
FARGO – One man seen riding a casket cover in the Red River on Sunday could have suffered grave consequences if law enforcement hadn’t put a lid on his dangerous activities.
Cass County deputies received a report at 10:15 a.m. that a man was riding a “makeshift kayak” in the Red River south of town. He had been spotted by a resident who lived in a development at 100th Avenue South, off County Road 81, said Joel Stading, a Cass County sheriff’s detective.
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