Unilever’s pension liability net of assets halved to €0.3bn over the first six months of 2018, having recorded a €0.6bn deficit at the end of December 2017, its Q2 results show.

According to the results, Unilever spent €76m on pensions and similar obligations in the first half of 2018, compared to €794m in the same period last year. In June 2017, the trustees of Unilever agreed a £600m injection into its pension scheme in order to plug a £1.2bn deficit, bringing the estimated funding level to 98 per cent.

The group expected to the remaining deficit to be dealt with through investment returns.
Unilever’s UK pension fund has two defined benefit plans; the career average plan and the closed final salary plan, as well as a defined contribution plan, with a combined total of 77,132 members.

The group said it gained €142m through the remeasurement of its defined benefit pension plans, down from the €641m during the first half of 2017. Its pension assets for funded schemes in surplus hit €2.3bn, up from the €2.17bn as of 31 December 2017.

Furthermore, the firm’s cash flow improved “driven by lower cash contributions to our pension funds”.

The group said pensions financing was a charge of €15m compared to €49m the year before.

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