Service Corporation International Dumping $41 Million into Texas Funeral Homes

Article originally published by Houston Business Journal

A death care giant looks to shovel more money in its Texas facilities.

Houston-based Service Corporation International (NYSE: SCI) plans to invest $40.9 million in facilities across the Lone Star State, including Houston, according to a release. The company is the largest provider of funeral and cemetery services in North America and operates Dignity Memorial.

SCI wants to renovate or has renovated several different locations around the Houston area, which include Pat H. Foley, Forest Park Lawndale, American Heritage, Chapel of Eternal Peace, Forest Park Westheimer and Pasadena Funeral Home. The company also recently expanded the parking facilities at Katy Funeral Home.

Facilities in Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, Rio Grande Valley and Austin are also slated for renovation.

As of March, the company ran 1,522 funeral homes and 468 cemeteries in the U.S. and Canada.

Until the 1970s, all funeral homes were independently owned. Now, publicly traded corporations own 14 percent. SCI brought in $550.3 million in operating income in 2015. It ranks at No. 51 on Houston Business Journal’s 2015 Largest Houston-based Public Companies List, based on its 2014 revenue of $2.99 billion.

Earlier this year, the company promoted Michael Webb to president and COO, shortly after it named CEO Tom Ryan as chairman. HBJ sat down with Ryan a year ago. Click here to read the full interview about how the company is taking a fresh look at death.