Postretirement and Other Employee Benefits

6 Months Ended

Feb. 28, 2013

Postretirement and Other Employee Benefits

8. Postretirement and Other Employee Benefits

The Company sponsors defined benefit pension plans in several countries in which it operates. The pension obligations relate primarily to the following: (a) a funded retirement plan in the United Kingdom and (b) both funded and unfunded retirement plans mainly in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, and Taiwan and which provide benefits based upon years of service and compensation at retirement.

The following table provides information about net periodic benefit cost for the pension plans during the three months and six months ended February 28, 2013 and February 29, 2012 (in thousands):

	Three months ended						Six months ended
	February 28, 2013			February 29, 2012			February 28, 2013			February 29, 2012
Service cost	$	510		$	373		$	1,026		$	690
Interest cost		1,913			1,968			3,838			3,623
Expected long-term return on plan assets		(1,727	)		(1,635	)		(3,469	)		(2,874	)
Amortization of prior service cost		(7	)		(7	)		(13	)		(14	)
Recognized actuarial loss		686			301			1,367			605
Net periodic benefit cost	$	1,375		$	1,000		$	2,749		$	2,030

During the six months ended February 28, 2013, the Company made contributions of approximately $2.2 million to its defined benefit pension plans. The Company expects to make total cash contributions of between $4.6 million and $5.4 million to its funded pension plans during fiscal year 2013.