Stewart Enterprises, Inc. 2000 Annual Report

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts.)

(17) SEGMENT DATA

In fiscal year 1999, the Company adopted SFAS No. 131, “Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information.” The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in the “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.” The Company evaluates the performance of its segments and allocates resources to them based on gross profit.

The Company’s operations are product-based and geographically-based. As such, the Company’s primary reportable operating segments presented in the following table are based on products and services and include funeral and cemetery operations.

The Company’s funeral homes offer a complete range of funeral services and products both at the time of need and on a prearranged basis. The Company’s services and products include family consultation, removal and preparation of remains, the use of funeral home facilities for visitation, worship and funeral services, transportation services, flowers and caskets. In addition to traditional funeral services, all of the Company’s funeral homes offer cremation products and services.

The Company’s cemetery operations involve the sale of cemetery property and related merchandise, including lots, lawn crypts, family and community mausoleums, monuments, memorials and burial vaults, along with the sale of burial site openings and closings. Cemetery property and merchandise sales are made both at the time of need and on a prearranged basis.

The Company conducts both funeral and cemetery operations domestically including the United States and Puerto Rico, and in Mexico, Canada, Australia and Argentina. The Company conducts funeral operations in New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

The table below presents information about reported segments for fiscal years ended October 31, 2000, 1999 and 1998:

(1) Reconciling items consist of unallocated corporate assets, depreciation and amortization on unallocated corporate assets and additions to corporate long-lived assets.
(2) Long-lived assets include cemetery property and net property and equipment.

A reconciliation of total segment gross profit to total earnings before income taxes and cumulative effect of change in accounting principle for fiscal years ended October 31, 2000, 1999 and 1998, is as follows:

(1) Includes the Company’s operations in the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(2) Foreign revenue is based on the country in which the sales originate. The Company commenced its foreign operations as follows: Mexico—August 1994; Australia—December 1994; New Zealand—April 1996; Canada—October 1996; Spain—April 1997; Portugal—September 1997; the Netherlands—December 1997; Argentina—April 1998; France and Belgium—May 1998.
(3) Long-lived assets include cemetery property and net property and equipment.