Dutch electronics giant Philips is to boost the assets of its €14.9bn pension fund with an additional contribution of €600m.
It said €500m would be used to increase the coverage ratio of the Philips Pensioenfonds by 3 percentage points to 111%.
The extra contribution, it said, is the result of a new collective labour agreement (CAO) between the employer and the unions.
The Philips scheme reported a quarterly return of 1.3%, leading to funding of 108% at year-end, and an annual return of 0.6%.
Even though the scheme has now surpassed the legally required financial reserves of 107% coverage, it warned that it still considered itself to be in the "danger zone", and was therefore still deliberating over the possible indexation of pension rights.
The Philips Pensioenfonds said it lost 0.3% on its 70% liability-matching portfolio – meant to finance most of its liabilities, as well as 2% inflation – during the fourth quarter.
In contrast, the scheme’s 30% return portfolio generated 5.5%, thanks to well-performing equity and high-yield credit.
The return portfolio, which also includes emerging market debt and property, is to bolster its financial buffers and finance any surplus inflation and longevity risk, the scheme said.
The pension fund attributed the 0.2% outperformance in particular to the returns on high-yield credit and commodities.
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