Postretirement Benefit Plans

Defined Benefit Pension Plan

As a result of our acquisition of Wolfson in fiscal year 2015, the Company had a defined benefit pension scheme (“the Scheme”), for some individuals in the United Kingdom. Following the acquisition, the participants in the Scheme no longer accrued benefits and therefore the Company was not required to make contributions in respect of future accruals.

During fiscal year 2018, the Company authorized the termination of the Scheme under which 60 participants had accrued benefits. On March 16, 2018, the Scheme completed a buy-in transaction whereby the assets of the Scheme, together with a final contribution from the Company of $11.0 million, were invested in a bulk purchase annuity contract that fully insures the benefits payable to the members of the Scheme at that time.

The bulk purchase annuity contract was structured to enable the Scheme to move to full buy-out (following which the insurance company became directly responsible for the pension payments). On November 30, 2018, the insurance company confirmed that the buy-out was completed and individual policies had been established for each member. Completion of the buy-out confirms full and final settlement of the Scheme, and the unamortized loss previously recorded within Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income ("AOCI") of $13.8 million was recognized within other non-operating expense as "U.K. pension settlement" in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019, with the corresponding tax benefit of $2.6 million being recognized within "Provision for income taxes" in the Consolidated Statements of Income. As the buy-out transaction has fully settled, there will be no further contributions to the Scheme.

The following tables set forth the benefit obligation, the fair value of plan assets, and the funded status of the Scheme (in thousands):



	March 30, 2019			March 31, 2018
Change in benefit obligation:
Beginning balance	$	40,601		$	21,123
Interest cost	—			651
Plan settlements	(40,601		)	—
Benefits paid and expenses	—			(312		)
Change in foreign currency exchange rate	—			2,869
Actuarial loss	—			16,270
Total benefit obligation ending balance	—			40,601
Change in plan assets:
Beginning balance	40,601			22,143
Actual return on plan assets	—			2,700
Employer contributions	—			12,877
Plan settlements	(40,601		)	—
Change in foreign currency exchange rate	—			3,193
Benefits paid and expenses	—			(312		)
Fair value of plan assets ending balance	—			40,601
Funded status of Scheme at end of year	$	—		$	—

The assets and obligations of the Scheme are denominated in British Pound Sterling. Following the purchase of the bulk purchase annuity contract as of March 31, 2018, the Scheme was fully insured and the net funded status is zero as reflected in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet under the caption “Other assets”. The Company’s plan assets and obligations are measured as of the fiscal year-end. As of March 31, 2018, the plan assets and obligations were measured with reference to the price of the bulk purchase annuity contract.

The components of the Company’s net periodic pension expense (income) presented within “Research and development” expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Income are as follows (in thousands):



	Fiscal Years Ended
	March 30, 2019		March 31, 2018			March 25, 2017
Expenses	$	—	$	—		$	—
Interest cost	—		651			759
Expected return on plan assets	—		(1,159		)	(1,126		)
Settlement loss	—		—			1,063
Amortization of actuarial gain	—		—			(89		)
	$	—	$	(508	)	$	607

The following weighted-average assumptions were used to determine net periodic benefit costs for the year ended March 30, 2019, March 31, 2018 and March 25, 2017:



	2019	2018		2017
Discount rate	n/a	2.70	%	3.60	%
Expected long-term return on plan assets	n/a	4.23	%	4.93	%

The table below sets forth the fair value of our plan assets as of March 31, 2018, using the same three-level hierarchy of fair-value inputs described in Note 4 (in thousands):



	Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets Level 1		Significant Other Observable Inputs Level 2		Significant Unobservable Inputs Level 3		Total
Plan Assets:
Insurance contracts	$	—	$	40,601	$	—	$	40,601

The Company contributed $12.9 million to the pension plan in fiscal year 2018. As the buy-out transaction has fully settled, there will be no further contributions to the Scheme as discussed above.

Defined Contribution Plans

We have Defined Contribution Plans (“the Plans”) covering all of our qualifying employees. Under the Plans, employees may elect to contribute any percentage of their annual compensation up to the annual regulatory limits. The Company made matching employee contributions of $7.7 million, $6.7 million, and $5.5 million during fiscal years 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively.