4imprint : Pension buy-in

4imprint Group plc 17 September 2014

Pension Buy-in

4imprint Group plc ("the Company") announces that the Trustee of the 4imprint Group Pension Scheme (the "Scheme") has entered into a buy-in agreement with Prudential Retirement Income Limited, a subsidiary of The Prudential Assurance Company Limited (Prudential).

The transaction produces an income stream for the Scheme which covers payments to 567 existing pensioners, representing around 57% of the total Scheme liability. Together with the previous buy-in agreement announced on 23 November 2012, this results in approximately 76% of the Scheme's total liability being insured. Such buy-in eliminates inflation, interest rate and longevity risks associated with the pension benefits that are insured.

The insurance premium under the buy-in agreement is £65.5m. The insurance premium has been funded by way of £51.8m of assets from the Scheme and £13.7m has been paid by the Company from its existing cash resources. This will bring the total contributions paid by the Company to the Scheme in 2014 to £16.2m.

Under the agreement, the Scheme Trustee has the option to convert the transaction to a buy-out arrangement, which would result in the insurance company being directly responsible for the pension obligations. The Scheme Trustee has indicated that it intends to proceed on this basis and is targeting 2015 to do so. In which case, the Company would make an additional £6m contribution to the Scheme and a new Schedule of Contributions would be agreed with the Trustee at that time in respect of the remaining non-insured pension obligations.

John Poulter, Chairman commented:

"Following this buy-in, approximately 76% of the Scheme's total liabilities are now insured. The buy-in is in line with 4imprint's strategy of reducing the risk of the Group's legacy pension scheme."

Rachel Tranter, Chairman of the Trustee commented:

"We are pleased to be able to take this de-risking step, with the support of the Company, and will be writing to members with more details in the next few days."

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