The Company and certain subsidiaries have a noncontributory defined benefit retirement plan (the “Pension Plan”), covering approximately 17% of our aggregate employees. Benefits are based on years of service and the employee’s average compensation for the highest five compensation years preceding retirement or termination.

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						Nine months ended
	November 30,						November 30,
	2018			2017			2018			2017
Components of net periodic benefit cost
Service cost	$	277		$	271		$	830		$	812
Interest cost		568			567			1,705			1,702
Expected return on plan assets		(1,028	)		(948	)		(3,082	)		(2,845	)
Amortization of:
Unrecognized net loss		512			510			1,535			1,531
Net periodic benefit cost	$	329		$	400		$	988		$	1,200

The Company is required to make contributions to the Pension Plan. These contributions are required under the minimum funding requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). Due to the enactment of the Highway and Transportation Funding Act (HATFA) in August 2014, plan sponsors can calculate the discount rate used to measure the Pension Plan liability using a 25-year average of interest rates plus or minus a corridor. The Company’s minimum required contribution to the Pension Plan is zero for the Pension Plan year ending February 28, 2019. However, the Company expects to make a cash contribution to the Pension Plan of between $2.0 million and $3.0 million during fiscal year 2019. The Company has contributed $3.0 million to the Pension Plan during fiscal year 2018.

The Company adopted ASU No. 2017-07 “Compensation-Retirement Benefits (Topic 715): Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost”, with retrospective adoption, during the first quarter of fiscal year 2019 and records benefit service costs in cost of sales and selling, general and administrative expenses. The other components, which include interest cost, expected return on plan assets and net amortization, are recorded in other income (expense)-net within the consolidated statements of operations. Previously, all pension and postretirement benefits expense (income) was recorded in cost of sales and selling, general and administrative expenses. See Note 1, Recent Accounting Pronouncements, for further discussion and impact of this adoption.