Employee Benefit Plans

6 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2011

Employee Benefit Plans [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans

11. Employee Benefit Plans

The Company and certain subsidiaries have a noncontributory defined benefit retirement plan covering approximately 11% of their employees. Benefits are based on years of service and the employee’s average compensation for the highest five compensation years preceding retirement or termination. The Company’s funding policy is to contribute annually an amount in accordance with the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”).

Pension expense is composed of the following components included in cost of goods sold and selling, general and administrative expenses in the Company’s consolidated statements of earnings (in thousands):

	Three months ended						Six months ended
	August 31,						August 31,
	2011			2010			2011			2010
Components of net periodic benefit cost
Service cost	$	303		$	304		$	607		$	607
Interest cost		630			655			1,261			1,309
Expected return on plan assets		(803	)		(766	)		(1,607	)		(1,531	)
Amortization of:
Prior service cost		(36	)		(36	)		(72	)		(72	)
Unrecognized net loss		316			336			631			672
Net periodic benefit cost	$	410		$	493		$	820		$	985

The Company is required to make contributions to its defined benefit pension plan. These contributions are required under the minimum funding requirements of ERISA. For the current fiscal year ending February 29, 2012, the minimum required contribution to the plan is approximately $1.4 million. The Company has satisfied the first two quarterly installments towards the minimum required contribution by electing to apply a portion of its available Funding Standard Carryover Balance; thus, no cash contributions have been made to the plan during the first two quarters of the fiscal year. However, the Company does expect to make a cash contribution to the plan of between $2.0 million and $3.0 million during the second half of the 2012 fiscal year, which will be more than sufficient to meet the minimum funding requirement for the year. The Company contributed $3.0 million to its pension plan during fiscal year 2011.