POST RETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS

9 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2021

During the nine months ended July 31, 2021, an annuity contract for approximately $100.0 million was purchased with United States defined benefit plan assets and the pension obligation for certain retirees in the United States under that plan was irrevocably transferred from that plan to the annuity contract. Additionally, lump sum payments totaling $2.7 million and $10.2 million for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2021 were made from the defined benefit plan assets to certain participants who agreed to such payments, representing the current fair value of the participant’s respective pension benefit. The settlement items described above resulted in a decrease in the fair value of both the plan assets and the projected benefit obligation of $110.2 million and a non-cash pension settlement charges of $0.1 million and $8.7 million of unrecognized net actuarial loss included in accumulated other comprehensive loss for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2021.

Additional lump sum payments in Canada and the United Kingdom exceeded the settlement threshold for the fiscal year triggering settlement accounting. Lump sum payments for these plans resulted in non-cash pension settlement charges of $0.3 million of unrecognized net actuarial loss that was included in accumulated other comprehensive loss for the three months ended July 31, 2021.

The components of net periodic pension cost include the following:


	Three Months Ended July 31,				Nine Months Ended July 31,
(in millions)	2021		2020		2021		2020
Service cost	$	3.0	$	3.6	$	9.2	$	9.6
Interest cost	4.8		7.2		13.9		19.4
Expected return on plan assets	(7.8)		(10.5)		(23.8)		(28.7)
Amortization of prior service cost	—		3.4		(0.1)		9.8
Recognized net actuarial loss	2.5		—		10.0		—
Net periodic pension cost	$	2.5	$	3.7	$	9.2	$	10.1

The Company expects to make employer contributions of $21.7 million, including benefits paid directly by the Company, during 2021.

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, net" in the interim condensed consolidated statements of income.