POST RETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS

6 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2020

During the six months ended April 30, 2020, two United States defined benefit plans were combined and lump sum payments totaling $44.3 million were made to United States defined benefit plan participants who agreed to such payments, representing the current fair value of the participant’s respective pension benefit. The payments were made from plan assets resulting in a decrease in the fair value of both the plan assets and the projected benefit obligation of $44.3 million and non-cash pension settlement income of $0.1 million of unrecognized net actuarial gain included in accumulated other comprehensive income.

As a result of the two events described above, two United States defined benefit plans were remeasured as of December 31, 2019, resulting in a $19.0 million decline in aggregate projected benefit obligations and a $9.3 million aggregate decline in the fair value of plan assets. These reductions were due to an increase in discount rates to 3.38%, from the Company's year-end disclosures.

The components of net periodic pension cost include the following:


	Three Months Ended April 30,						Six Months Ended April 30,
(in millions)	2020		2019		2020		2019
Service cost	$	2.8	$	3.8	$	6.0	$	6.3
Interest cost	5.6		8.7		12.2		13.9
Expected return on plan assets	(7.9)		(6.2)		(18.2)		(12.4)
Amortization of prior service cost (benefit)	2.9		(3.0)		6.4		(1.2)
Net periodic pension cost	$	3.4	$	3.3	$	6.4	$	6.6

Contributions, including benefits paid directly by the Company, to the pension plans were $18.0 million and $11.8 million, in the six months ended April 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

The components of net periodic post-retirement benefit include the following:


	Three Months Ended April 30,						Six Months Ended April 30,
(in millions)	2020		2019		2020		2019

Interest cost	$	0.1	$	0.1	$	0.2	$	0.2
Amortization of prior service benefit	(0.2)		(0.4)		(0.3)		(0.8)
Net periodic post-retirement benefit	$	(0.1)	$	(0.3)	$	(0.1)	$	(0.6)

The components of net periodic pension cost and net periodic post-retirement benefit, other than the service cost components, are included in the line item "Other expense (income), net" in the interim condensed consolidated statements of income.