Defined Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Defined Benefit Plans [Abstract]

DEFINED BENEFIT PLANS

10. DEFINED BENEFIT PLANS

Defined Benefit Plan Descriptions.  We maintain three defined benefit pension plans which cover substantially all of our U.S. employees who were employed by the Company prior to July 1, 2010 and excluding employees of our Aerospace Equipment segment: the Amended and Restated American Pacific Corporation Defined Benefit Pension Plan, the Ampac Fine Chemicals LLC Pension Plan for Salaried Employees, and the Ampac Fine Chemicals LLC Pension Plan for Bargaining Unit Employees, each as amended to date. Collectively, these three plans are referred to as the “Pension Plans”. Pension Plan benefits are paid based on an average of earnings, retirement age, and length of service, among other factors. In May 2010, our board of directors approved amendments to our Pension Plans which effectively closed the Pension Plans to participation by any new employees. Retirement benefits for existing U.S. employees and retirees through June 30, 2010 were not affected by this change. Beginning July 1, 2010, new U.S. employees began participating solely in one of the Company’s 401(k) plans. In addition, we maintain the American Pacific Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan, as amended and restated, (the “SERP”) that includes three executive officers and two former executive officers. We use a measurement date of September 30 to account for our Pension Plans and SERP.

Net periodic pension cost consists of the following:

	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	June 30,				June 30,
	2012		2011		2012		2011
Pension Plans:
Service Cost	$	550	$	592	$	1,990	$	1,824
Interest Cost		1,011		900		2,936		2,656
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(1,007)		(720)		(2,547)		(2,164)
Recognized Actuarial Losses		715		474		1,910		1,314
Amortization of Prior Service Costs		12		15		47		46
Net Periodic Pension Cost	$	1,281	$	1,261	$	4,336	$	3,676
Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan:
Service Cost	$	107	$	81	$	327	$	243
Interest Cost		91		89		276		267
Expected Return on Plan Assets		-		-		-		-
Recognized Actuarial Losses		-		-		-		-
Amortization of Prior Service Costs		105		105		315		315
Net Periodic Pension Cost	$	303	$	275	$	918	$	825

Defined Contribution Plan Descriptions. We maintain two 401(k) plans in which participating employees may make contributions. One covers substantially all U.S. employees except bargaining unit employees of our Fine Chemicals segment and the other covers those bargaining unit employees. We make matching contributions for Fine Chemicals segment employees and U.S. employees of our discontinued operations. In addition, we make a profit sharing contribution for U.S. employees of our discontinued operations segment who were employed by us prior to June 30, 2010. Beginning July 1, 2010, for all eligible new U.S. employees we began making matching contributions.

Contributions and Benefit Payments. For the nine months ended June 30, 2012, we contributed $8,304 to the Pension Plans to fund benefit payments and anticipate making approximately $1,016 in additional contributions through September 30, 2012. For the nine months ended June 30, 2012, we contributed $396 to the SERP to fund benefit payments and anticipate making approximately $131 in additional contributions through September 30, 2012.