CCANSW Weekly News Letter - 11/01/2021

Hanging coffins in China are known in Mandarin as xuanguan, which also means "hanging coffin". They are an ancient funeral custom of some ethnic minorities. The most famous hanging coffins are by the Bo people of Sichuan and Yunnan. Coffins of various shapes were mostly carved from one whole piece of wood. Hanging coffins either lie on beams projecting outward from vertical faces such as mountains, are placed in caves in the face of cliffs, or sit on natural rock projections on mountain faces.

Heir to a long tradition, our company has been continuing the unique craft of designing and manufacturing ornamental cremation urns for ashes since its founding.

InvoCare Limited, funeral, cemetery & crematoria operator,  has had a roller coaster 2020. After climbing to a 52-week high of $15.79 a month ago, InvoCare's stock price fell to a low of $9.07 in March 2020. So far, the stock's trading price so far has fallen by 1.3% to $11.44, which is still nearly 30% below last year's high.

For the six months ended June 30, 2020, InvoCare’s revenue was US$226 million, a decrease of 6.2% from the same period last year. This resulted in a net profit loss of US$18 million, compared with a profit of US$41 million in the same period in FY19. The main driver of the decline in income is mainly the COVID-19 restriction on the number of people attending funerals.

NSW Health has  provided an update on COVID-19 restrictions in Greater Sydney which includes Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong.

Amendments to the Public Health (COVID-19 Restrictions on Gathering and Movement) Order (No 7) 2020 commenced on 3 January 2021. Under the amended Order, the number of people who may attend a funeral or a gathering immediately after a funeral in Greater Sydney is one person per 4 square metres of space (for indoor areas), one person per 2 square metres of space (for outdoor areas), or 100 people, whatever is lesser.

From The Guardian: "As human funeral providers increase their stakes in afterlife pet care, vets advise the reasons for using them go beyond the emotional"