Pension Plan

The Company sponsors an unfunded non-qualified defined benefit plan (“SERP”) for certain senior executives. No assets are held with respect to the SERP; therefore benefits are funded as paid to participants. For the three months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, the Company recorded $0.2 million and $0.1 million, respectively, in expenses related to the SERP which are included in selling general and administrative ("SG&A") expense in the accompanying consolidated statements of income. The expenses related to the SERP for the nine month periods ended September 30, 2012 and 2011 were $0.5 million and $0.4 million, respectively.

On December 26, 2011, the Company's board of directors approved the termination of the SERP effective immediately. The Company will effectuate the termination of the SERP through the payment of lump sum distributions to all SERP participants based upon the actuarial equivalent commuted lump sum value of the full accrued benefit earned by each such participant, using the actuarial and other assumptions that have not yet been determined. The Company expects to complete the settlement of the plan benefits prior to December 31, 2012. Based on the assumptions chosen to calculate the lump sum value of distributions, the actual settlement of the SERP liability may differ from the Company's current estimate of the projected benefit obligation which totals $12.0 million resulting in a settlement gain or loss in 2012.

The following table presents the components of net periodic benefit costs for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011:



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
(In thousands)	2012		2011		2012		2011
Components of net periodic pension cost:
Interest cost	$	132	$	135	$	395	$	406
Amortization of actuarial loss	32		—		$	96	$	—
Net periodic pension cost	$	164	$	135	$	491	$	406

The 2012 net periodic pension costs are expected to be approximately $0.7 million. The components of projected pension costs for the year ended December 31, 2012 are as follows:



(in thousands)
Components of net periodic pension cost:
Interest cost	$	526
Amortization of actuarial loss	128
Net periodic pension cost	$	654

The following is a reconciliation of the changes in the projected benefit obligation for the nine months ended September 30, 2012:



(in thousands)
Projected benefit obligation, December 31, 2011	$	11,896
Interest cost	395
Benefit payments	(318		)
Projected benefit obligations, September 30, 2012	$	11,973

The amounts in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) that have not yet been recognized as components of net periodic benefit costs at September 30, 2012 are as follows:



(in thousands)
Transition asset (obligation)	$	—
Prior service cost	—
Accumulated loss	(2,279		)
Total	$	(2,279	)