Lockdowns threaten undertaker’s outlook

ASX-LISTED undertaker InvoCare has swung back into profit but its time in the black is under threat as Sydney and Melbourne’s lockdowns persist.

The group, Australia’s biggest funeral home, delivered a half-year net profit of $44m, compared with an $18m loss in the previous first half.

An easing of Covid-19 restrictions buoyed the company during the period when limits on the number of mourners who could attend a funeral were scrapped. But the onset of winter and with it, the outbreaks of the highly infectious Delta variant, has heralded a return to heartbreaking funeral limits and uncertainty for InvoCare.

Overall revenue jumped 13 per cent to $290.9m, with its pet cremation business becoming a highlight, swinging from a $300,000 loss to generating $3.6m in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

InvoCare shares rose 8.7 per cent to $12.15.