EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

Pension Plans

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



	Three Months Ended December 31,						Nine Months Ended December 31,
	2014			2013			2014			2013
Service cost for benefits earned during the period	$	1,897		$	2,162		$	6,230		$	6,283
Interest cost on pension benefit obligation	5,852			6,892			19,218			20,032
Expected return on assets	(6,945		)	(7,486		)	(22,806		)	(21,759		)
Amortization of unrecognized losses	1,493			1,978			4,902			5,752
Net periodic pension cost	$	2,297		$	3,546		$	7,544		$	10,308

We pre-funded our contributions of £12.5 million ($20.8 million) to our U.K. Staff pension plan for fiscal year 2015 in the last quarter of fiscal year 2014. The current estimates of our cash contributions to our U.K. pension plans and Norwegian pension plan for fiscal year 2015 are $21.2 million and $12.0 million, respectively, of which $15.1 million and $9.0 million, respectively, were paid during the nine months ended December 31, 2014.

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 December 31, 2014, 2,355,553 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 2014 Financial Statements.

Total stock-based compensation expense, which includes stock options and restricted stock, totaled $5.3 million and $4.0 million for the three months ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and $13.7 million and $10.7 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Stock-based compensation expense has been allocated to our various business units.

During the nine months ended December 31, 2014, we awarded 172,808 shares of restricted stock at an average grant date fair value of $74.18 per share. Also during the nine months ended December 31, 2014, 472,744 stock options were granted. The following table shows the assumptions used to compute the stock-based compensation expense for stock options granted during the nine months ended December 31, 2014:



Risk free interest rate	1.67	%
Expected life (years)	5
Volatility	34.2	%
Dividend yield	1.92	%
Weighted average exercise price of options granted	$74.44 per option
Weighted average grant-date fair value of options granted	$17.17 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 December 31 and March 31, 2014 was $17.8 million and $16.7 million, respectively, and represents an accrual based on the fair value of the awards on those dates. The increase in the liability during the nine months ended December 31, 2014 resulted from the value of the new awards granted in June 2014 and increase in the value of awards granted June 2013 and May 2012, partially offset by from the payout in June 2014 of the awards granted in June 2011. Any changes in fair value of the awards in future quarters will increase or decrease the liability and impact results in those periods. The effect, 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 December 31, 2014 and 2013 was $4.3 million and $2.4 million, respectively, and during the nine months ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 was $11.3 million and $6.1 million, respectively.

Retirement of President and Chief Executive Officer

On February 3, 2014, the Company announced that William E. Chiles would resign as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company effective upon the conclusion of the 2014 annual meeting of the stockholders of the Company that was held on July 31, 2014. On June 9, 2014, Jonathan E. Baliff began serving as President and on July 31, 2014 he assumed the additional role of Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Mr. Baliff also became a member of the Board of Directors of the Company effective July 31, 2014. Mr. Chiles remains an employee of the Company and provides consulting services to the Company.

Mr. Chiles and the Company entered into a Retirement and Consulting Agreement, dated January 30, 2014 (the “Agreement”), to specify the terms of his continued employment with the Company. We recorded additional compensation expense, included in general and administrative expense, of $5.5 million during the nine months ended December 31, 2014, respectively, related to the Agreement. For further details, see Note 10 to our fiscal year 2014 Financial Statements.