Employee Benefits

6 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2015

General Discussion of Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits [Abstract]

Employee Benefits

Employee Benefits

Cooper’s Retirement Income Plan (Plan), a defined benefit plan, covers substantially all full-time United States employees. Our 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.

Our results of operations for the three and six months ended April 30, 2015 and 2014 reflect the following components of net periodic pension costs:

Periods Ended April 30,	Three Months						Six Months
(In thousands)	2015			2014			2015			2014
Service cost	$	2,037		$	1,769		$	4,073		$	3,537
Interest cost	1,064			987			2,128			1,975
Expected returns on assets	(1,513		)	(1,238		)	(3,026		)	(2,475		)
Amortization of prior service cost	1			6			2			12
Recognized net actuarial loss	247			154			494			308
Net periodic pension cost	$	1,836		$	1,678		$	3,671		$	3,357

Cooper contributed $2.5 million to the Plan in the fiscal first half of 2015, and expects to contribute an additional $7.5 million during fiscal 2015. We contributed $3.4 million and $4.5 million to the Plan in the three and six months ended April 30, 2014. The expected rate of return on plan assets for determining net periodic pension cost is 8%.