Service Corporation International Announces Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Updates 2020 Guidance

HOUSTON, Oct. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Service Corporation International (NYSE: SCI), the largest provider of deathcare products and services in North America, today reported results for the third quarter of 2020.

Tom Ryan, the Company's President, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, commented on COVID-19 and third quarter results:

"As our society continues to navigate through the doubt, fears, and uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, our dedicated team of 25,000 associates continues to display tremendous courage and resolve. Our team has continued to meet our customer's desires by delivering exemplary service in spite of increased workloads and activity, leveraging technology for social distancing, and providing a safe environment for our customers to grieve, celebrate the life of a loved one or make future plans.

Today we are reporting adjusted earnings per share of $0.79, a $0.42 increase over the prior year quarter as the impact of COVID-19 has increased the number of funeral services performed as well as the number of burials in our cemeteries. As community restrictions lifted over the last few months, we have experienced unprecedented growth in our preneed cemetery sales as well as a significant improvement in the number of families who are desiring memorial services. We view this as further evidence that a considerable number of our customers continue to value what our team does best, which is helping our client families gain closure and healing through the process of grieving, remembrance, and celebration.  

We will provide further commentary regarding guidance for the remainder of the year as well as our preliminary expectations on 2021 financial performance on our conference call scheduled for Thursday, October 29th at 8 a.m. Central Time."

Third Quarter Highlights:

• Revenue grew $149 million over the prior year quarter to $918 million.
• GAAP earnings per share were $0.72.
• Adjusted earnings per share grew $0.42 over the prior year quarter to $0.79.
• Cemetery preneed sales grew $95 million, or 47%.
• Comparable funeral gross profit grew 63% and margin expanded 750 basis points.
• Comparable cemetery gross profit grew 64% and margin expanded 740 basis points.

THIRD QUARTER SUMMARY

Details of our third quarter 2020 financial results and the unaudited consolidated financial statements can be found in the Appendix at the end of this press release. The table below summarizes our key financial results.

• Diluted earnings per share were $0.72 in the third quarter of 2020 compared to $0.38 in the third quarter of 2019. The current year quarter was negatively impacted by a $9.2 million increase in losses on early extinguishment of debt, net and a $2.0 million favorable change in net losses on divestitures and impairment charges. Diluted earnings per share excluding special items were $0.79 in the third quarter of 2020 compared to $0.37 in the third quarter of 2019. The increase of $0.42 is due to higher gross profit primarily related to higher funeral services and burials performed as well as strong recognized preneed revenue growth in our cemetery business.
• Net cash provided by operating activities decreased $14.2 million to $195.1 million in the third quarter of 2020 compared to $209.3 million in the third quarter of 2019. Our remarkable growth in gross profit was more than offset by significantly higher income tax payments, mostly resulting from deferrals of tax payments from the second quarter into the third quarter of 2020 as well as unfavorable working capital changes.

REVISED OUTLOOK FOR 2020

The guidance provided below has a wider range than usual for the three month period due to the continued uncertainty around the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This revised outlook assumes that the impact of COVID-19 continues throughout the fourth quarter. Additionally, our outlook for net cash provided by operating activities excluding special items reflects an estimated $40 million of payroll tax payments that would have been paid in 2020, but are being deferred until 2021 and 2022 as allowed under the CARES Act.

CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST

We will host a conference call on Thursday, October 29, 2020, at 8:00 a.m. Central Time. A question and answer session will follow a brief presentation made by management. The conference call dial-in numbers are (888) 609-1607 (US) or (862) 298-0705 (International) with the passcode of 12079689#. The conference call will also be broadcast live via the Internet and can be accessed through our website at www.sci-corp.com. A replay of the conference call will be available through January 27, 2021 and can be accessed at (888) 539-4649 (US) or (754) 333-7735  (International) with the passcode of 153894#. Additionally, a replay of the conference call will be available on our website for approximately three months.

ABOUT SERVICE CORPORATION INTERNATIONAL

Service Corporation International (NYSE: SCI), headquartered in Houston, Texas, is North America's leading provider of deathcare products and services. At September 30, 2020, we owned and operated 1,470 funeral service locations and 483 cemeteries (of which 296 are combination locations) in 44 states, eight Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Through our businesses, we market the Dignity Memorial® brand which offers assurance of quality, value, caring service, and exceptional customer satisfaction. For more information about Service Corporation International, please visit our website at www.sci-corp.com. For more information about Dignity Memorial®, please visit www.dignitymemorial.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS  

The statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made in reliance on the "safe harbor" protections provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be accompanied by words such as "believe," "estimate," "project," "expect," "anticipate," or "predict," that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These statements are based on assumptions that we believe are reasonable; however, many important factors could cause our actual results in the future to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made herein and in any other documents or oral presentations made by us, or on our behalf. Important factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, among others, the following:

• Unforeseen effects from the COVID-19 pandemic could have material adverse consequences for our business and results of operations.
• Our affiliated trust funds own investments in securities, which are affected by market conditions that are beyond our control.
• We may be required to replenish our affiliated funeral and cemetery trust funds to meet minimum funding requirements, which would have a negative effect on our earnings and cash flow.
• Our ability to execute our strategic plan depends on many factors, some of which are beyond our control.
• Our credit agreements contain covenants that may prevent us from engaging in certain transactions.
• If we lost the ability to use surety bonding to support our preneed activities, we may be required to make material cash payments to fund certain trust funds.
• Increasing death benefits related to preneed contracts funded through life insurance or annuity contracts may not cover future increases in the cost of providing a price-guaranteed service.
• The financial condition of third-party insurance companies that fund our preneed contracts may impact our future revenue and cash flows.
• Unfavorable results of litigation could have a material adverse impact on our financial statements.
• Unfavorable publicity could affect our reputation and business.
• We use a combination of insurance, self-insurance, and large deductibles in managing our exposure to certain inherent risks; therefore, we could be exposed to unexpected costs that could negatively affect our financial performance.
• Changes in taxation as well as the inherent difficulty in quantifying potential tax effects of business decisions could have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations, financial condition, or cash flows.
• Declines in overall economic conditions beyond our control could reduce future potential earnings and cash flows and could result in future impairments to goodwill and/or other intangible assets.
• Any failure to maintain the security of the information relating to our customers, their loved ones, our associates, and our vendors could damage our reputation, could cause us to incur substantial additional costs and to become subject to litigation, and could adversely affect our operating results, financial condition, or cash flow.
• Our Canadian business exposes us to operational, economic, and currency risks.
• Our level of indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, and may prevent us from fulfilling our obligations under our indebtedness.
• A failure of a key information technology system or process could disrupt and adversely affect our business.
• Failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could adversely affect our results of operations, investor confidence, and our stock price.
• The application of unclaimed property laws by certain states to our preneed funeral and cemetery trust funds could have a material adverse impact on our liquidity, cash flows, and financial results.
• The funeral and cemetery industry is competitive.
• If the number of deaths in our markets declines, our cash flows and revenue may decrease. Changes in the number of deaths are not predictable from market to market or over the short term.
• If we are not able to respond effectively to changing consumer preferences, our market share, operating results, financial condition, or cash flow could decrease.
• The continuing upward trend in the number of cremations performed in North America could result in lower revenue, operating profit, and cash flows.
• Our funeral and cemetery businesses are high fixed-cost businesses.
• Regulation and compliance could have a material adverse impact on our financial results.
• Cemetery burial practice claims could have a material adverse impact on our financial results.

For further information on these and other risks and uncertainties, see our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K. Copies of this document as well as other SEC filings can be obtained from our website at www.sci-corp.com. We assume no obligation and make no undertaking to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or any other forward-looking statements made by us whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Comparable Funeral Results

The table below details comparable funeral results of operations ("same store") for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019. We consider comparable funeral operations to be those businesses owned for the entire period beginning January 1, 2019 and ending September 30, 2020.

• Total comparable funeral revenue increased by $53.2 million, or 11.7%, in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019, primarily driven by significant growth in core funeral revenue of $53.9 million.
• The increase in core funeral revenue of $53.9 million, or 14.3%, was primarily the result of an 18.5% increase in core funeral services performed, which was somewhat offset by a 3.6% decrease in core average revenue per service. The core average revenue per service continued to be negatively impacted by social distancing effects from the pandemic resulting in fewer and smaller funeral memorial services. The core cremation rate increased by 110 basis points, which is in-line with expectations.
• Non-funeral home revenue increased $2.9 million, or 23.0%, as a result of a 22.1% increase in services performed and a 0.8% increase in the average revenue per service.
• Recognized preneed revenue decreased $1.1 million, or 3.3%, primarily driven by a 5.1% decrease in preneed production through our non-funeral home channel as described below.
• Other revenue decreased $2.5 million, or 7.5%, primarily due to lower general agency revenue as a result of a decrease in insurance-funded preneed funeral sales production.
• Comparable funeral gross profit increased $47.0 million to $122.0 million and the gross profit percentage increased 750 basis points to 24.0%. Funeral margins continue to be positively impacted by growth in higher margin core business coupled with a leaner cost structure that is partially due to the fewer and smaller memorial services mentioned above.
• Comparable preneed funeral sales production decreased $6.7 million, or 2.8%, in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 2019. We experienced a 2.2% decrease at our core funeral locations and a 5.1% decrease in preneed production through our non-funeral home channel. This decrease was primarily driven by the continued social distancing impacts on two of our primary lead sources, in person seminars and in-home follow-up visits.

Comparable Cemetery Results

The table below details comparable cemetery results of operations ("same store") for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019. We consider comparable cemetery operations to be those businesses owned for the entire period beginning January 1, 2019 and ending September 30, 2020.

• Comparable cemetery revenue increased $90.7 million, or 29.4%, in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the third quarter of 2019. The increase was primarily due to a $93.1 million, or 33.1%, increase in core revenue.
• The core revenue growth of $93.1 million was a result of a $23.5 million, or 29.4%, increase in atneed revenue that was driven by an increase in burials performed and a $69.6 million, or 34.6%, increase in recognized preneed revenue driven by strong comparable preneed cemetery property sales production for the period as described below.
• Comparable cemetery gross profit increased $54.6 million to $139.9 million. The gross profit percentage increased 740 basis points to 35.0%, resulting from the cemetery revenue increases described above coupled with a leaner cost structure. These benefits to margin were somewhat offset by higher selling compensation-related costs driven by the increase in our comparable preneed cemetery sales production for the quarter described below.
• Comparable preneed cemetery sales production increased $95.4 million, or 46.9%, primarily driven by increases in sales velocity, sales averages, and large sales for the period. Similar to what we experienced late in the second quarter, our continued expansion of virtual tools, customer sales incentives, and increased leads from atneed services and company generated leads, drove higher sales velocity. We continue to experience higher conversion and close rates due to the consumer's increased awareness related to the possible impact of COVID-19, coupled with an increase in location traffic due to higher funeral services performed. We also generated large sales growth of 61%, partially due to a weak comparison to the prior year during which we experienced lower preneed property sales in certain west coast markets.

Other Financial Results

• Corporate general and administrative expenses increased $11.3 million to $41.0 million in the third quarter of 2020. This was primarily due to increases in our healthcare self-insurance reserves and increases in charitable contribution funding related to our community outreach efforts. The 2019 third quarter was favorably impacted by a pension termination settlement.
• Interest expense decreased $6.0 million to $40.7 million in the third quarter of 2020 primarily due to lower interest rates on our floating rate debt and other debt refinancing activities over the last twelve months.
• We incurred an $18.3 million loss on early extinguishment of debt related to debt refinancing transactions that occurred during the quarter. We issued $850.0 million of new unsecured 3.375% Senior Notes due August 2030 primarily to redeem our 5.375% Senior Notes due May 2024.
• The GAAP effective income tax rate for the third quarter of 2020 was 22.7% up from 2.7% in the prior year quarter primarily due to the prior year reduction in a tax liability as a result of the expiration of the statute of limitations. Our adjusted effective income tax rate was 22.9% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 18.5% in the prior year quarter. The current year effective tax rates are higher compared to the prior year quarter primarily due to lower excess tax benefits on fewer exercises of stock options during the current year.

Cash Flow and Capital Spending

Net cash provided by operating activities decreased $14.2 million to $195.1 million in the third quarter of 2020 compared to $209.3 million in the third quarter of 2019. Higher gross profit of $103.9 million was more than offset by an increase in federal and state cash tax payments and increased preneed working capital uses during the quarter. Federal and state cash tax payments increased $88.2 million during the quarter primarily due to the deferral of $47.3 million of federal and state income tax payments from the second quarter as allowed by the IRS, as well as increased tax payments on higher earnings. Additionally, we experienced a reduction in our working capital primarily related to the substantial growth in cemetery preneed property sales in the quarter. Recall that cash receipts related to preneed property sales are generally received on an installment basis over a three to five year period.   

A summary of our capital expenditures is set forth below:

Total capital expenditures decreased in the current quarter by $13.7 million, primarily due to the timing of certain capital expenditures as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.  We expect to return to more normalized levels of capital spending in the fourth quarter.

Trust Fund Returns

Total trust fund returns include realized and unrealized gains and losses and dividends and are shown gross without netting of certain fees. A summary of our consolidated trust fund returns as of September 30, 2020 is set forth below:

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Earnings excluding special items and diluted earnings per share excluding special items shown above are non-GAAP financial measures. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide a consistent basis for comparison between quarters and years, and better reflect the performance of our core operations, as they are not influenced by certain income or expense items not affecting operations. We also believe these measures help facilitate comparisons to our competitors' operating results.

Set forth below is a reconciliation of our reported net income attributable to common stockholders to earnings excluding special items and our GAAP diluted earnings per share to diluted earnings per share excluding special items. We do not intend for this information to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for other measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

SOURCE Service Corporation International