Employer Sponsored Benefit Plans

As of March 31, 2018, the Company maintains a defined benefit pension plan that covers certain domestic Lydall employees (“domestic pension plan”) that is closed to new employees and benefits are no longer accruing. The domestic pension plan is noncontributory and benefits are based on either years of service or eligible compensation paid while a participant is in the plan. The Company’s funding policy is to fund not less than the ERISA minimum funding standard and not more than the maximum amount that can be deducted for federal income tax purposes.

As of January 1, 2018 the Company adopted ASU No. 2017-07, "Compensation - Retirement Benefits (Topic 715): Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost". This ASU required the other components of net benefit cost, which includes interest costs, expected return on plan assets, and amortization of actuarial loss be presented in the income statement outside a subtotal of income from operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2018. The retrospective adoption of this ASU resulted in the reclassification of net benefit costs of $0.1 million from cost of sales and $0.1 million from the selling, product development and administrative expenses to the other expense, net line in the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2017.

The Company expects to contribute approximately $3.0 million to $4.0 million in cash for the domestic pension plan in 2018, and is evaluating this strategy as a result of the recent changes to U.S. tax law enacted on December 22, 2017. Contributions of $1.2 million were made during the quarter ended March 31, 2018 and during the quarter ended March 31, 2017.

The following is a summary of the components of net periodic benefit cost, which is recorded in other expense, net, for the domestic pension plan for the quarters ended March 31, 2018 and 2017:



	Quarter Ended March 31,
In thousands	2018			2017
Components of net periodic benefit cost
Interest cost	$	470		$	514
Expected return on assets	(650		)	(594		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	256			273
Net periodic benefit cost	$	76		$	193