EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

Pension Plans

The following table provides a detail of the components of net periodic pension cost (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended September 30,						Six Months Ended September 30,
	2013			2012			2013			2012
Service cost for benefits earned during the period	$	2,070		$	2,052		$	4,121		$	4,109
Interest cost on pension benefit obligation	6,602			6,418			13,140			12,851
Expected return on assets	(7,171		)	(7,264		)	(14,273		)	(14,545		)
Amortization of unrecognized losses	1,897			1,652			3,774			3,309
Net periodic pension cost	$	3,398		$	2,858		$	6,762		$	5,724

We pre-funded our contributions of £12.5 million ($19.0 million) to our U.K. Staff pension plan for fiscal year 2014 in the last quarter of fiscal year 2013. The current estimate of our cash contributions to our U.K. pension plans and Norwegian pension plan for fiscal year 2014 are $15.5 million and $8.1 million, respectively, of which $9.4 million and $5.5 million, respectively, were paid during the six months ended September 30, 2013.

Incentive Compensation

Stock–based awards are currently made under the Bristow Group Inc. 2007 Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “2007 Plan”). A maximum of 5,400,000 shares of common stock, par value $.01 per share (“Common Stock”), are reserved. Awards granted under the 2007 Plan may be in the form of stock options, stock appreciation rights, shares of restricted stock, other stock-based awards (payable in cash or Common Stock) or performance awards, or any combination thereof, and may be made to outside directors, employees or consultants. As of September 30, 2013, 3,022,768 shares remained available for grant under the 2007 Plan.

We have a number of other incentive and stock option plans which are described in Note 10 to our fiscal year 2013 Financial Statements.

Total stock-based compensation expense, which includes stock options, restricted stock units and restricted stock, totaled $3.7 million and $2.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $6.6 million and $5.5 million for six months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively. Stock-based compensation expense has been allocated to our various business units.

During the six months ended September 30, 2013, we awarded 179,821 shares of restricted stock at an average grant date fair value of $63.19 per share. Also during the six months ended September 30, 2013, 302,678 stock options were granted. The following table shows the assumptions used to compute the stock-based compensation expense for stock options granted during the six months ended September 30, 2013:



	Risk free interest rate	1.01%
	Expected life (years)	5
	Volatility	48.7%
	Dividend yield	1.60%
	Weighted average exercise price of options granted	$62.66 per option
	Weighted average grant-date fair value of options granted	$23.77 per option

Performance cash awards vest and pay out in cash three years after the date of grant at varying levels depending on our performance in Total Shareholder Return against a peer group of companies. These awards were designed to tie a significant portion of total compensation to performance. One of the effects of this type of compensation is that it requires liability accounting which can result in volatility in earnings. The liability recorded for these awards as of September 30 and March 31, 2013 was $11.8 million and $13.4 million, respectively, and represents an accrual based on the fair value of the awards on those dates. The decrease in the liability during the six months ended September 30, 2013 resulted from the payout in June 2013 of the awards granted in June 2010, partially offset by the value of the new awards granted in June 2013. Any changes in fair value of the awards in future quarters will increase or decrease the liability and impact results in those periods. The affect, either positive or negative, on future period earnings can vary based on factors including changes in our stock price or the stock prices of the peer group companies, as well as changes in other market and company-specific assumptions that are factored into the calculation of fair value of the performance cash awards.

Compensation expense related to the performance cash awards recorded during the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012 was $1.9 million and $3.4 million, respectively, and during the six months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012 was $3.7 million and $4.1 million, respectively.