Employee Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 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 November 30,						Nine months ended November 30,
	2011			2010			2011			2010
Components of net periodic benefit cost
Service cost	$	304		$	304		$	911		$	911
Interest cost		631			654			1,892			1,963
Expected return on plan assets		(804	)		(765	)		(2,411	)		(2,296	)
Amortization of:
Prior service cost		(36	)		(37	)		(108	)		(109	)
Unrecognized net loss		315			336			946			1,008
Net periodic benefit cost	$	410		$	492		$	1,230		$	1,477

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 three 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 three 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 fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012, 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.