GRAVE DANGER: Why You Could Be Paying More For Funerals

Nothing can be said to be certain,” Benjamin Franklin famously quipped, “except death and taxes. Such certainty has seen Australia’s two ASX-listed funeral operators, InvoCare Limited (ASX: IVC) and Propel Funeral Partners Ltd (ASX: PFP) rising from the grave.

More than 160,000 Australians will die this year with one person dying every 3 minutes. However, investors are feeling like they are in heaven with news that profits at Australia’s two largest funeral operators are rising amid ominous signs there could be a further escalation from a nasty flu season.

Since the middle of January, the Propel share price has risen 31.4% and since the start of the year the InvoCare share price is up 56.8%. This may be good news for shareholders, but not for grieving consumers worried about the rising costs of funerals.

What this means for consumers

You might not know it, but you and your family may be contributing to big corporate profits, by not shopping around for funeral services.

Between them, InvoCare and Propel Funeral Partners currently control over 40% market share nationally. This means that, without knowing it, there’s a good chance your first contact will be a funeral brand owned by one of these large funeral chains listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Don’t be deceived by family brand names advertised on a billboard, in the newspaper, on radio or in the media – it does not necessarily mean they are an independent funeral home.

Often, large publicly listed companies will use family brand names on their signs, because they know customers will be more inclined to trust them, and they often use the reputation of the family name. It is quite common for these publicly listed companies to operate under old family names and not change the look of the premises after the funeral home changes hands.