LEVITTOWN, Pa., Aug. 06, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StoneMor Partners L.P. (NYSE:STON) (“StoneMor”) issued a statement today in connection with recent market activity in its unit price.
Larry Miller, StoneMor’s President and CEO commented, “It is not our policy to comment on day-to-day movements in the price of our units. However, given the recent volatility, we feel an obligation to provide some information to our unitholders.
“We know of no fundamental reason which justifies the recent weakness in the unit price. To the extent that investors are responding to posted on-line reports on the company, we would caution against the drawing of conclusions from such postings. There are currently four investment firm analysts who publish regular, in-depth analyses of the company, and we would remind everyone that we will be reporting our quarterly results on Monday, August 10 as we have previously announced.
“Several members of the Company’s board of directors have requested permission to purchase common units in the open market once we have reported our quarterly results on Monday. We recently increased our quarterly distribution to $0.65 per unit. We have paid 41 consecutive distributions since we became a public company. We recently completed a follow-on public offering of units which raised net proceeds of approximately $67.8 million that we used to pay down debt under our credit facility.”
Investor Conference Call and Webcast
StoneMor will conduct a conference call to discuss 2015 second quarter financial results on Monday, August 10, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. ET. The conference call can be accessed by calling (800) 918-9578. An audio replay of the conference call will be available by calling (800) 633-8284 through 12:00 p.m. ET on August 24, 2015. The reservation number for the audio replay is 21772727. A live webcast of the conference call will also be available to investors who may access the call through the investors section of www.stonemor.com. An audio replay of the conference call will also be archived on StoneMor’s website at www.stonemor.com.
About StoneMor Partners L.P.
StoneMor Partners L.P., headquartered in Levittown, Pennsylvania, is an owner and operator of cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States, with 303 cemeteries and 98 funeral homes in 28 states and Puerto Rico. StoneMor is the only publicly traded death care company structured as a partnership. StoneMor’s cemetery products and services, which are sold on both a pre-need (before death) and at-need (at death) basis, include: burial lots, lawn and mausoleum crypts, burial vaults, caskets, memorials, and all services which provide for the installation of this merchandise. For additional information about StoneMor Partners L.P., please visit StoneMor’s website, and the investors section, at http://www.stonemor.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release, including, but not limited to, information regarding the status and progress of our operating activities, the plans and objectives of our management, assumptions regarding our future performance and plans, and any financial guidance provided or guidance related to our future distributions are forward-looking statements.
Generally, the words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend (including, but not limited to our intent to maintain or increase our distributions),” “project,” “expect,” “predict” and similar expressions identify these forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements are made subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied. Our major risk is related to uncertainties associated with the cash flow from our pre-need and at-need sales, our trusts, and financings, which may impact our ability to meet our financial projections, our ability to service our debt and pay distributions, and our ability to increase our distributions.
Our additional risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to, the following: uncertainties associated with future revenue and revenue growth; uncertainties associated with the integration or anticipated benefits of our recent acquisitions or any future acquisitions; our ability to complete and fund additional acquisitions; the effect of economic downturns; the impact of our significant leverage on our operating plans; the decline in the fair value of certain equity and debt securities held in our trusts; our ability to attract, train and retain an adequate number of sales people; uncertainties associated with the volume and timing of pre-need sales of cemetery services and products; increased use of cremation; changes in the death rate; changes in the political or regulatory environments, including potential changes in tax accounting and trusting policies; our ability to successfully implement a strategic plan relating to achieving operating improvements, strong cash flows and further deleveraging; our ability to successfully compete in the cemetery and funeral home industry; litigation or legal proceedings that could expose us to significant liabilities and damage our reputation; the effects of cyber security attacks due to our significant reliance on information technology; uncertainties relating to the financial condition of third-party insurance companies that fund our pre-need funeral contracts; and various other uncertainties associated with the death care industry and our operations in particular.
When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on July 6, 2015 and our other reports filed with the SEC. Except as required under applicable law, we assume no obligation to 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.