Employee Benefits

Cooper’s Retirement Income Plan (Plan), a defined benefit plan, covers substantially all full-time United States employees. Cooper’s contributions are designed to fund normal cost on a current basis and to fund the estimated prior service cost of benefit improvements. The unit credit actuarial cost method is used to determine the annual cost. Cooper pays the entire cost of the Plan and funds such costs as they accrue. Virtually all of the assets of the Plan are comprised of equities and participation in equity and fixed income funds.

Cooper’s results of operations for the six months ended April 30, 2014 and 2013 reflect the following components of net periodic pension costs:



Periods Ended April 30,	Three Months						Six Months
(In thousands)	2014			2013			2014			2013
Service cost	$	1,769		$	1,846		$	3,537		$	3,692
Interest cost	987			822			1,975			1,643
Expected returns on assets	(1,238		)	(961		)	(2,475		)	(1,922		)
Amortization of prior service cost	6			6			12			12
Recognized net actuarial loss	154			546			308			1,093
Net periodic pension cost	$	1,678		$	2,259		$	3,357		$	4,518

Cooper contributed $3.4 million and $4.5 million to the pension plan for the three and six months ended April 30, 2014, respectively, and expects to contribute an additional $4.3 million in fiscal 2014. We contributed $3.0 million and $3.4 million to the pension plan for the three and six months ended April 30, 2013. The expected rate of return on plan assets for determining net periodic pension cost is 8%.