Note C - Pension Plans

PLP-USA hourly employees of the Company who meet specific requirements as to age and length and date of service are covered by a defined benefit pension plan (“Plan”).  On December 12, 2012, the Company approved a freeze on further benefit accruals under the Plan and notified the participants of the freeze on December 19, 2012.  Beginning February 1, 2013, participants ceased earning additional benefits under the Plan and no new participants entered the Plan.  The Company uses a December 31 measurement date for its Plan.

Net periodic pension cost for the Plan consists of the following components for the year ended December 31:

 

 

The following tables set forth benefit obligations, plan assets and the accrued benefit cost of the Plan at December 31:

 

 

In accordance with ASC 715-20, the Company recognizes the underfunded status of the Plan as a liability.  The amount recognized in Accumulated other comprehensive loss related to the Plan at December 31 is comprised of the following:

 

 

The pre-tax unfunded pension obligation gain of $0.1 million included a gain of $.7 million associated with the industry updates to the mortality table used, offset by a loss of $.2 million due to demographic changes and a loss of $.4 million resulting from asset performance short of the 8% rate of return assumption.   The estimated net loss for the Plan that will be amortized from Accumulated other comprehensive income into periodic benefit cost for 2017 is $.3 million.  There is no prior service cost to be amortized in the future.

The Plan had accumulated benefit obligations in excess of Plan assets as follows:

 

 

 

Weighted-average assumptions used to determine net periodic benefit cost for the year ended December 31 are as follows:

 

 

The net periodic pension cost for 2016 was based on a long-term asset rate-of-return of 8.0%.  This rate is based upon management’s estimate of future long-term rates of return on similar assets and is consistent with historical returns on such assets.  Using the Plan’s current mix of assets and based on the average historical returns and expected future returns for such mix, an expected long-term rate-of-return of 8.0% is justified.

At December 31, 2016, the fair value of the Plan assets included inputs in Level 1: Quoted market prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities and Level 2: Observable market based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data. The fair value of the Plan assets as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, by category, are as follows:

 

 

 

The Plan weighted-average asset allocations at December 31, 2016 and 2015, by asset category, are as follows:

 

 

Management seeks to maximize the long-term total return of financial assets consistent with the fiduciary standards of ERISA.  The ability to achieve these returns is dependent upon the need to accept moderate risk to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

In recognition of the expected returns and volatility from financial assets, Plan assets are invested in the following ranges with the target allocation noted:

 

 

Investment in these markets is projected to provide performance consistent with expected long-term returns with appropriate diversification.

The Company's policy is to fund amounts deductible for federal income tax purposes.  The Company does not expect to contribute to the Plan in 2017.

The benefits expected to be paid out of the Plan assets in each of the next five years and the aggregate benefits expected to be paid for the subsequent five years are as follows:

 

 

The Company also provides retirement benefits through various defined contribution plans including PLP-USA’s Profit Sharing Plan.  Expense for these defined contribution plans was $5.8 million in 2016, $5.5 million in 2015 and $6.1 million in 2014.

Further, the Company also provides retirement benefits through the Supplemental Profit Sharing Plan.  To the extent an employee’s award under PLP-USA’s Profit Sharing Plan exceeds the maximum allowable contribution permitted under existing tax laws, the excess is accrued for (but not funded) under a non-qualified Supplemental Profit Sharing Plan.  The return under this Supplemental Profit Sharing Plan is calculated at a weighted average of the one-year Treasury Bill rate plus 1%.  At December 31, 2016 and 2015, the interest rate for the Supplemental Profit Sharing Plan was 1.65% and 1.22%, respectively.  Expense for the Supplemental Profit Sharing Plan was $.5 million for 2016, $.3 million for 2015 and $.5 million for 2014.  The Supplemental Profit Sharing Plan unfunded status as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 was $4.3 million and $3.9 million and is included in Other noncurrent liabilities.