Trinity Mirror has upped its pension scheme contributions by £8m to £44m a year over the next 10 years commencing in 2018.

The agreement is as a result of its 31 December 2016 triennial valuation, which it said has “progressed well” and is expected to be finalised ahead of the statutory deadline of 31 march 2018.

Trinity Mirror said the increase in annual contributions reflects the increase in deficits since the last valuation which has been largely driven by the fall in long term interest rates.

In its half year results, published in July, the publisher revealed its IAS 19 accounting deficit fell by £59.2m from £466m to £406.8m, with the group contributing £20.6m across its DB schemes in the period.

At the schemes’ last triennial valuation, as at 31 December 2013, there was a deficit of £336.7m for the Mirror Schemes, £31.9m for the Trinity Scheme and £26.7m for the MIN Scheme. As part of the agreement of the valuations, deficit funding contributions were agreed at £36.2m for 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Contributions were agreed at around £36m from 2018 to 2023 and then reduce to around £21m for 2024 and 2025 after which contributions were due to cease. Trinity Mirror expects to be out of deficit by 2027, due to a combination of contributions and asset returns.

Share Story: