BENEFIT PLANS

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

BENEFIT PLANS

BENEFIT PLANS

(13)       BENEFIT PLANS

Defined Contribution Plan:

The Company has a qualified contributory defined contribution plan available to all eligible employees. The plan allows participating employees to make tax-deferred contributions under Internal Revenue Code Section 401(k).

Company contributions to the plan for the years ended September 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022 were as follows:

(In thousands)	2024		2023		2022
Company contributions to the plan	$	1,016	$	1,216	$	1,366

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP):

On October 6, 2008, the Company established a leveraged ESOP covering substantially all employees. The ESOP trust acquired 610,089 shares of Company common stock at a cost of $3.33 per share (both as adjusted for the three-for-one stock split effective September 15, 2021) financed by a term loan with the Company. The employer loan and the related interest income are not recognized in the consolidated financial statements as the debt is serviced from Company contributions. Dividends payable on allocated shares are charged to retained earnings and are satisfied by the allocation of cash dividends to participant accounts or by utilizing the dividends as additional debt service on the ESOP loan. Dividends payable on unallocated shares are not considered dividends for financial reporting purposes. Shares held by the ESOP trust are allocated to participant accounts based on the ratio of the current year principal and interest payments to the total of the current year and future years’ principal and interest to be paid on the employer loan. Compensation expense is recognized based on the average fair value of shares released for allocation to participant accounts during the year with a corresponding credit to stockholders’ equity.

There was no compensation expense recognized related to the Employee Stock Ownership Plan for the years ended September 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022.

The employer loan was fully repaid in December 2015 and all shares of Company stock were allocated to participant accounts as of September 30, 2016.  The ESOP trust held 262,176 and 293,695 shares of Company common stock allocated to participant accounts at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The aggregate fair value of shares allocated to ESOP participants was $6.2 million and $4.3 million at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.