Defined Benefit Pension Plan

9 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 2024

15. Defined Benefit Pension Plan

Pension and Employee Benefit Obligations

In our Precoat Metals segment, certain current or past employees participate in a defined benefit pension plan (the "Plan"). Prior to the Precoat Acquisition, benefit accruals were frozen for all participants. After the freeze, participants no longer accrued benefits under the Plan, and new hires of AZZ Precoat Metals are not eligible to participate in the Plan. As of November 30, 2024, the Plan was underfunded, and we have a net pension obligation of $25.1 million, which is included in "Other long-term liabilities" in the consolidated balance sheets and represents the underfunded portion of the Plan.

The components of net benefit cost other than the employer service cost are included in "Selling, general and administrative" expense. The following table outlines the net benefit cost and its components (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended November 30,				Nine Months Ended November 30,
	2024		2023		2024		2023
Interest cost	$	1,711	$	1,759	$	5,124	$	5,276
Expected return on plan assets	(1,491)		(1,488)		(4,465)		(4,463)
Net benefit cost	$	220	$	271	$	659	$	813

We paid employer contributions of $6.7 million into the Plan during the nine months ended November 30, 2024. We expect to pay $1.3 million of contributions into the Plan during the remainder of fiscal 2025.