Dignity PLC (LON:DTY) saw its shares surge in early trading Wednesday after saying it expects results for the full-year to be ahead of market expectations despite a potentially volatile trading year.
The funeral director said its revenue for the first quarter of 2018 was around £95mln, up from £93mln previously with an EBIT of £37.5mln, in line with the previous year but significantly ahead of its expectations.
READ: Dignity surges as price cuts inspire "step change" in demand for its simple funeral package
Dignity added that the trend in higher deaths for the first part of 2018 had continued following its 2017 results announcement in March and was now up 8% to 181,000 compared to 167,000 the previous year.
Despite the positive start to the year, the group reiterated its outlook that trading for 2018 would be volatile and that it was still too early to conclude that the first quarter was indicative of the likely funeral price and volume mix going forward.
Additionally, Dignity said it was still conducting trails regarding the reduction in its simple funeral price, announced in January, and that it would provide an update on the results in August 2018.
Dignity shares were up 19% at 1,111p.