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POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS
 12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2025
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS
5. POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS
The Company has a number of non-contributory and contributory defined benefit retirement plans covering certain United States employees. Net periodic pension benefit cost is based on periodic actuarial valuations that use the projected unit credit method of calculation and is charged to the statements of operations on a systematic basis over the expected average remaining service lives of current participants. The benefits under the defined benefit plans are based on various factors, such as years of service and compensation. For all periods presented, all defined pension benefit plans are frozen, whereby participants no longer accrue credited service. The expected return on plan assets is determined using the fair value of plan assets. The net periodic cost for the periods presented was as follows: 
Fiscal Year Ended
(in thousands)September 30, 2025September 30, 2024September 30, 2023
Interest cost$4,556 $5,264 $5,175 
Expected return on plan assets(4,323)(3,364)(5,027)
Amortization of actuarial loss208 266 667 
Net periodic cost$441 $2,166 $815 

The weighted-average assumptions used to determine net periodic pension cost during the period were as follow:
September 30, 2025September 30, 2024September 30, 2023
Discount rate4.9 %5.8 %5.4 %
Expected return on plan assets4.0 %3.3 %5.0 %
Rate of compensation increaseN/aN/aN/a
The change in the benefit obligations, plan assets and the amounts recognized on the consolidated balance sheets was as follows (in thousands):

Change in benefit obligations:
Balance as of September 30, 2023$95,330 
Interest cost5,264 
Actuarial gain8,979 
Benefits and administrative expenses paid(6,384)
Balance as of September 30, 2024103,189 
Interest cost4,556 
Actuarial loss(3,432)
Benefits and administrative expenses paid(6,559)
Balance as of September 30, 2025$97,754 
 
Change in plan assets:
Balance as of September 30, 2023$105,443 
Actual return on plan assets12,599 
Employer contributions276 
Benefits and administrative expenses paid(6,384)
Balance as of September 30, 2024111,934 
Actual return on plan assets677 
Employer contributions280 
Benefits and administrative expenses paid(6,558)
Balance as of September 30, 2025$106,333 
Funded status:
Funded status as of September 30, 2024$8,745 
Funded status as of September 30, 2025$8,578 


(in thousands)September 30, 2025September 30, 2024
Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets consist of:
Pension Non-Current Assets $8,578 $8,745 
Pension liabilities— — 
Net amount recognized$8,578 $8,745 
  
Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss (before income taxes) consist of:
Net actuarial loss$(15,113)$(15,108)
Total loss recognized$(15,113)$(15,108)
  
Weighted-average assumptions used to determine pension benefit obligations at year end:
Discount rate5.2 %4.9 %
Rate of compensation increaseN/aN/a
The following table summarizes the defined benefit pension plans with accumulated benefit obligations in excess of plan assets:
(in thousands)September 30, 2025September 30, 2024
Accumulated benefit obligation$— $— 
Fair value of plan assets— — 

Neither plan had accumulated benefit obligations in excess of plan assets as of September 30, 2025.

The following table summarizes the defined benefit pension plans with projected benefit obligations in excess of plan assets:
(in thousands)September 30, 2025September 30, 2024
Projected benefit obligation$— $— 
Fair value of plan assets— — 
Neither plan had projected benefit obligations in excess of plan assets as of September 30, 2025.

In determining the expected return on plan assets, the Company considers the relative weighting of plan assets by class, historical performance of asset classes over long-term periods, asset class performance expectations as well as current and future economic conditions. The Company’s investment strategy for its pension plans is to manage the plans on a going-concern basis. Current investment policy is to minimize risk in the plan assets for the purpose of enhancing the security of benefits for participants. For the pension plans, this policy targets a 100% allocation to debt securities. As of September 30, 2025, the 3% of plan assets held in cash and cash equivalents is a result of timing differences as the Company continues to move to the target allocation of 100% debt securities.

Pension plans have the following weighted-average asset allocations:
Asset Category:September 30, 2025September 30, 2024
Debt securities97%96%
Cash and cash equivalents3%4%
Total100%100%

The Company evaluates its defined benefit plans’ asset portfolios for the existence of significant concentrations of risk, such as investments in a single entity, industry, foreign country and individual fund manager. As of September 30, 2025, there were no significant concentrations of risk in the Company’s defined benefit plan assets.
    
The Company’s plan assets are accounted for at fair value and are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The Company’s assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement requires judgment, and may affect the valuation of fair value of assets and their placement within the fair value hierarchy levels.

The Company’s asset allocations are presented in the table below:

September 30, 2025September 30, 2024
(in thousands)Level 1Level 2TotalLevel 1Level 2Total
Fixed income securities$31,389 $71,355 $102,744 $34,077 $73,394 $107,471 
Cash and cash equivalents 3,589 — 3,589 4,463 — 4,463 
Total$34,978 $71,355 $106,333 $38,540 $73,394 $111,934 
Fixed income securities consist primarily of government and agency securities, corporate debt securities, and mortgage and other asset-backed securities. When available, fixed income securities are valued at the closing price reported in the active market in which the individual security is traded. Government and agency securities and corporate debt securities are valued using the most recent bid prices or occasionally the mean of the latest bid and ask prices when markets are less liquid. Asset-backed securities including mortgage-backed securities are valued using broker/dealer quotes when available. When quotes are not available, fair value is determined by utilizing a discounted cash flow approach, which incorporates other observable inputs such as cash flows, underlying security structure and market information including interest rates and bid evaluations of comparable securities. These values are based on the fair value of the underlying net assets owned by the fund. As of September 30, 2025 and September 30, 2024, the Company did not have any Level 3 pension assets

Cash and cash equivalents consist primarily of short-term commercial paper, and other cash or cash-like instruments including settlement proceeds due from brokers, stated at cost, which approximates fair value.

Transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy are recognized on the actual date of the event or circumstance giving rise to the transfer, which generally coincides with the Company’s valuation process.

Contribution amounts are determined and funded based on laws and regulations and with the assistance of professionally qualified actuaries. The Company contributed $280 and $276 to its pension plans for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2025 and September 30, 2024. The Company anticipates that it will contribute at least the minimum required contribution of $350 to its pension plans in fiscal 2026.

Benefit payments, which reflect future expected service as appropriate, are expected to be paid in each fiscal year as follows:

(in thousands)
2026$7,333 
20277,383 
20287,417 
20297,457 
20307,482 
2030 to 203436,705 

Defined Contribution Retirement Plans — The Company also sponsors several defined contribution retirement plans - the 401(k) matching programs. Expense for the defined contribution plans is computed as a percentage of participants’ compensation and was $6,570, $6,396 and $5,483 for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2025, September 30, 2024 and September 30, 2023, respectively.

Multi-Employer Plan — The Company has a liability of $3,598 as of September 30, 2025 and $3,974 as of September 30, 2024 representing the Company’s proportionate share of a multi-employer pension plan which was exited prior to fiscal 2017.