Pension fund deficits - plse contribute

[DYOR]

One also needs to put deficits in context. Obvious, I know, but worth emphasising.

A deficit of £663m for a company with a market capitalisation of £929m is one thing (CLLN).
A deficit of £1,137m for a company with a market capitalisation of £12,470m is quite another (Centrica).

Market capitalisation may not be the best comparator, but it illustrates the point.

Totally agree 77ss, the relative size of the problem is clearly an important consideration

[DYOR]

This is one reason I would find it unfair to split off Openreach, the cash generator, and leave the rest of the company carrying an large burden of responsibility. I dare say, there's a big area for horse trading there.

Now that the legal split has been announced, it would be interesting to see how the pension fund deficit is handled. Since Openreach may be sold down the line, presumably this has to be ironed out sooner rather than later

[figwold]

The interesting point is that a £1.2bn deficit is being paid down at a mere £74m a year.

...

One also needs to put deficits in context. Obvious, I know, but worth emphasising.

A deficit of £663m for a company with a market capitalisation of £929m is one thing (CLLN).
A deficit of £1,137m for a company with a market capitalisation of £12,470m is quite another (Centrica).

Market capitalisation may not be the best comparator, but it illustrates the point.

Actually there is another important factor at play. Remember that the deficit (however calculated) is the net of the assets in the scheme and the liabilities. So a deficit of £100m for a scheme with assets of £2bn (i.e. a deficit of 5% or so) is relatively immaterial, whereas for a scheme with assets of £500m (i.e. a deficit of 20% or so) it is much more relevant.

[nicster]

Sorry if this is a silly question, but is there an online resource where pension deficit can be a found for all ftse 100/250 companies? Or is it generally lumped in with debt figures? Do any screener services maybe have this?

As pointed out by 77ss, maybe a pension deficit/market cap ratio, might be more meaningful (or turnover/profit etc).

nicster