Retirement plans

12 Months Ended

Feb. 01, 2025

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Retirement plans

Retirement plans

Signet previously provided a defined benefit pension plan in the UK (the “UK Plan”) to participating eligible employees, which was frozen effective in October 2019. All future benefit accruals under the plan ceased as of that date.

On July 29, 2021, Signet Group Limited (“SGL”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into an agreement with Signet Pension Trustee Limited (the “Trustee”), as trustee of the Signet Group Pension Scheme (the “Pension Scheme”), to facilitate the Trustee entering into a bulk purchase annuity policy ("BPA"), securing accrued liabilities under the Pension Scheme with Rothesay Life Plc ("Rothesay") and subsequently, to wind up the Pension Scheme and ultimately buy-out and terminate the BPA through issuance of individual policies to the UK Plan participants. By irrevocably transferring these obligations to Rothesay, the Company would eliminate its projected benefit obligation under the Pension Scheme.

On April 22, 2022, the Trustee entered into a Deed Poll agreement with Rothesay and a Deed of Assignment with SGL to facilitate the assignment of individual policies under the BPA for a significant portion of the participants in the UK Plan. The Deed Poll and Deed of Assignment, collectively, irrevocably relieved SGL and the Trustee of its obligations under the policies to the Assigned Participants.

As a result of the Deed Poll and Deed of Assignment, as well as voluntary lump sum distributions, the Company determined that a transfer of all remaining risks occurred with respect to these groups of participants. Thus, management concluded that the Company triggered settlement accounting and performed a remeasurement of the Pension Scheme, which resulted in a non-cash, pre-tax settlement charge of $131.9 million recorded within other non-operating income (expense), net within the consolidated statements of operations during the first quarter of Fiscal 2023.

Additional settlement events occurred in the second and fourth quarters of Fiscal 2023 and the first quarter of Fiscal 2024, which resulted in non-cash, pre-tax settlement charges of $0.9 million, $0.9 million and $0.2 million, respectively, which were recorded within other non-operating income (expense), net within the consolidated statements of operations. With the transfer in the first quarter of Fiscal 2024, the Company finalized the buy-out of the BPA and settlement of the remaining obligations under the Pension Scheme.

On December 13, 2023, the Trustee entered into a Deed of Determination with SGL to finalize the wind-up of the Pension Scheme. The Deed of Determination discharged SGL and the Trustee from all duties and obligations under the Pension Scheme. As a result, the UK Plan is not expected to have any future benefit payments.

In connection with the BPA and subsequent buy-outs, SGL contributed a total of £16.1 million (approximately $21.5 million), to the Pension Scheme to enable the Trustee to pay for any and all costs incurred by the Trustee as part of the Transactions.

The settlement charges recorded in Fiscal 2023 and Fiscal 2024 relate to the pro-rata recognition of previously unrecognized actuarial losses and prior service costs out of AOCI and into earnings associated with the buy-out of the benefit obligation. No further amounts remain unrecognized in AOCI.

Prior to the finalization of the wind-up of the Pension Scheme, the net periodic pension costs of the UK Plan were measured on an actuarial basis using the projected unit credit method and several actuarial assumptions, the most significant of which were the discount rate and the expected long-term rate of return on plan assets. Other material assumptions included rates of participant mortality, the expected long-term rate of compensation and pension increases, and rates of employee attrition. Gains and losses occurred when actual experience differed from actuarial assumptions. If such gains or losses exceeded 10% of the greater of plan assets or plan liabilities, Signet amortized those gains or losses over the average remaining service period of the employees. The service cost component of net periodic pension cost was charged to SG&A while non-service, interest and other costs components were charged to other non-operating expense, net, in the consolidated statements of operations.

The components of pre-tax net periodic pension benefit cost and other amounts recognized in OCI for the UK Plan as of Fiscal 2024 and Fiscal 2023 were as follows:

(in millions)	Fiscal 2024		Fiscal 2023
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Interest cost	$	—	$	(1.0)
Expected return on UK Plan assets	(2.5)		(0.3)
Amortization of unrecognized actuarial losses	—		(3.5)
Amortization of unrecognized net prior service costs	—		(0.3)
Pension settlement loss	(0.2)		(133.7)
Total net periodic benefit cost	$	(2.7)	$	(138.8)
Other changes in assets and benefit obligations recognized in OCI	0.2		137.0
Total recognized in net periodic pension benefit cost and OCI	$	(2.5)	$	(1.8)

Other retirement plans

Signet offers a defined contribution plan for UK employees, which replaced the UK Plan for new UK employees. Signet’s contributions to this plan in Fiscal 2025 were $2.1 million (Fiscal 2024: $2.4 million; Fiscal 2023: $2.5 million).

In the US, Signet operates a defined contribution 401(k) retirement savings plan for all eligible employees who meet minimum age and service requirements. The assets of this plan are held in a separate trust and Signet matches 50% of up to 6% of employee elective salary deferrals, subject to statutory limitations. Signet’s contributions to this plan in Fiscal 2025 were $12.9 million (Fiscal 2024: $13.6 million; Fiscal 2023: $12.6 million).

The Company has also established two unfunded, non-qualified deferred compensation plans (“DCP”), one of which permits certain management and highly compensated employees to elect annually to defer all or a portion of their compensation and are credited earnings or losses on the deferred amounts under the terms of the plan and the other of which is frozen as to new participants and new deferrals. Beginning in April 2011, the DCP provided for a matching contribution based on each participant’s annual compensation deferral. The DCP also permits employer contributions on a discretionary basis. The cost Signet recognized in connection with the DCP in Fiscal 2025 was $7.3 million (Fiscal 2024: $5.4 million; Fiscal 2023: $1.7 million).

Although it is not required, the Company has elected to fund the DCP by investing in trust-owned life insurance policies and mutual funds. The value and classification of the mutual funds are as follows:

	As of February 1, 2025				As of February 3, 2024
(in millions)	Total		Level 1		Total		Level 1
Investments measured at fair value:
Mutual funds	$	28.3	$	28.3	$	22.4	$	22.4
Investments measured at NAV:
Money market mutual funds	2.7				2.8
Total assets	$	31.0	$	28.3	$	25.2	$	22.4

The Company also has company-owned life insurance policies held for purposes of funding the DCP totaling $4.4 million and $5.6 million as of February 1, 2025 and February 3, 2024, respectively.

As of February 1, 2025 and February 3, 2024, the total liability recorded by the Company for the DCP was $42.1 million and $38.5 million, respectively.