16. Retirement benefit plans

The Group manages defined benefit plans for its employees in various countries. The most relevant defined benefit plans exist in Switzerland and in Germany and account together for 94% (PY: 93%) of the total benefit obligations. 

The following table provides an overview of the current status of the benefit obligations, plan assets and reimbursement rights of reinsurance policies.

Swiss retirement benefit plan

The Swiss Federal Law on Occupational Retirement, Survivors’ and Disability Pension Plans (BVG) governs occupational benefits in Switzerland. An employer with employees who must be insured is obliged to set up an independent pension fund entered in the register for occupational pension providers or affiliate with such a pension fund. The “Gemeinschaftsstiftung” of the Geberit Group is a foundation legally independent from the Geberit Group that insures all Geberit employees in Switzerland for compulsory and non-compulsory benefits. The Board of Trustees manages the Foundation and consists of employer and employee representatives in a parity ratio. The tasks of the Board of Trustees are set out in the BVG and the regulations based on the BVG adopted by the Board of Trustees.

The benefits provided by the pension plan exceed the minimum prescribed by law. They are funded by the employer and employee contributions, plus the interest paid on the savings assets of the insured party at an interest rate defined annually by the Board of Trustees in accordance with the legal provisions. If an insured party leaves the Geberit Group and/or the pension plan before reaching retirement age, the vested benefits accrued under the BVG are transferred to the new pension fund of the insured party. In addition to the funds brought into the pension plan by the insured party, these vested benefits consist of the employer and employee contributions, plus a supplement prescribed by law. The pension benefits comprise lifelong retirement pensions, disability benefits and death benefits for the surviving dependents. On retirement, a maximum of 50% of the retirement assets can be withdrawn in the form of a lump sum (as from 1 January 2024: maximum of 100%). The employer and employees pay an equal contribution to the pension fund, which is settled monthly (from the first of January 2024, the employer is paying 60% and the employees 40% of the savings and risk contributions). The contribution amount is determined by the employee’s age and is calculated as a percentage of the pensionable salary. 

If the pension fund is underfunded in accordance with the BVG, the Board of Trustees is obliged by law to initiate measures to rectify the situation, such as reducing the interest paid on retirement assets, reducing the benefit entitlement, or collecting remedial contributions. Legally accrued benefits may not be reduced. With remedial contributions, the risk is shared between the employer and employees and the employer is not legally obliged to pay more than 50% of the additional contributions. The technical funding ratio of this Foundation in accordance with the BVG was 118.3% as at 31 December 2023 (PY: 112.6%).

If a pension fund is overfunded as defined in IAS 19, the surplus funds are available to the company only to a very limited extent. The economic benefit for Geberit lies in future reductions in contributions and is calculated in accordance with IFRIC 14.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for deciding on a strategy for investment of the plan assets. The objective is to achieve medium-term and long-term congruence and sustainability between the plan assets and the pension obligations under the BVG. Taking into account the foundation’s risk capacity, the investment strategy is defined as a targeted long-term investment structure.

German retirement benefit plans

In Germany, there are capital account plans and annuity plans. The annuity plans are closed-end funds.

Capital account plans

The benefit plans and guidelines for payout are agreed in labour-management contracts. The employer can change the conditions by applying provisos. There can be special commitments based on the labour-management contracts or individual agreements, sometimes with annuity options. There is no minimum financing obligation.

Every year, a pension contribution is determined as a percentage of the pensionable salary or the employees can choose an amount of deferred compensation with or without employer contributions. This then serves as the age-dependent component on which a pension is accrued. The pension components accrued during the years of active service, including any resulting promises of fixed bonus payments and the initial credit from the transitional arrangement, are paid out in the form of a one-off lump sum or in instalments. Annuitisation is possible with the consent of the employer. The pension is not dependent on the employee’s final salary.

The employer manages the retirement accounts, informs the employees of the balance of their retirement assets, manages the claims and makes payments, sometimes involving the services of external service providers. When paying a lifelong pension, the employer must monitor the statutory and contractual obligations to adjust the pension and makes adjustments when necessary.

If a lump-sum benefit is annuitised, the lifelong payment of the pension and possible subsequent widow’s or widower’s pension can trigger a longevity risk. Thanks to the contractual adjustment rules applying to annuitisation, the statutory obligation to make (and review) adjustments is not currently seen to harbour any inflation risk.

The deferred compensation with/without employer contributions and possible demographic contributions retained by the employer are paid into reinsurance policies where the employer is the beneficiary. This partly covers the pension obligations.

With the aim of further harmonising the company pension scheme of the German companies, a new pension plan came into force in 2022, which will completely replace the existing capital account plans on expiry of the contribution period of several years of the capital account plans explained above. Beneficiaries of the new pension plan were exclusively employees who began their employment with Geberit in the year it was launched, existing non-pay-scale employees of the ceramic companies who were not included in the previous employer-financed pension plan as well as existing employees of the ceramic sites who declared their change from the old to the new scheme. Due to the contribution period of several years of the old pension plans, the portion of the benefit obligations for the new pension plan recognised as liabilities as at 31 December 2023 is largely limited to the new employees and is therefore of minor importance. The contribution period of the old employer-financed capital account plans ends on 30 September 2030 for each of the Pfullendorf and Langenfeld sites and on 31 December 2025 for the Lichtenstein site.

Annuity plans

Annuity plans are governed by labour-management contracts or individual employment contracts. § 16 of the Company Pensions Act imposes an obligation on the employer to review the adjustment of pension payments. The extent of the adjustment requirement is usually determined by the consumer price index. Some individual employment contracts impose a contractual adjustment obligation. There is no minimum financing obligation.

These are closed-end funds. Pension commitments as prescribed by the Essener Verband (Essen Association) have been made to some active employees. Fixed euro entitlements are maintained for departing employees with vested rights. Annuities are paid out to the beneficiaries in the form of lifelong monthly pension payments that include survivors’ benefit entitlements.

The employer manages entitlements and claims and makes payments, sometimes involving the services of external service providers. It monitors the statutory and contractual obligations to adjust the pension and makes adjustments when necessary.

The lifelong payment of the pension and possible subsequent widow’s or widower’s pension can trigger a longevity risk. The statutory obligation to make (and review) adjustments can also harbour an inflation risk.

The net periodic pension costs of all defined benefit plans of the Group were as follows:

The current service cost for the Swiss retirement benefit plan was MCHF 17.3 in 2023 (PY: MCHF 25.3) and for the German retirement benefit plans MCHF 8.1 (PY: MCHF 12.0). The net interest cost for the Swiss retirement benefit plan was MCHF -2.7 in 2023 (PY: MCHF -0.3) and for the German retirement benefit plans MCHF 5.6 (PY: MCHF 2.3).

The following table shows the remeasurements for the defined benefit plans in other comprehensive income in the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income:

The remeasurements recognised in other comprehensive income in the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income in 2023 for the Swiss retirement benefit plan amounted to MCHF -43.0 (PY: MCHF +45.7) and for the German retirement benefit plans to MCHF +5.2 (PY: MCHF -50.9).

The following tables show the changes in benefit obligations, plan assets and reimbursement rights from 1 January to 31 December:

The economic benefit available for the asset ceiling calculation purposes for the Swiss retirement benefit plans was determined based on the present value of IAS19 company service costs less the present value of future minimum funding requirement employer contributions from the pension plan rules. The economic benefit available has been determined to be greater than the surplus in the plan at this year end and therefore no asset restriction was applied.

As at 31 December 2023, the fair value of the reinsurance policies for the German retirement benefit plans was MCHF 20.8 (PY: MCHF 20.1).

The following table provides an analysis of the fair value and composition of the plan assets.

The plan assets of the Swiss retirement benefit plan was MCHF 661.8 as of 31 December 2023 and the effective income on the plan assets was +4.6% in 2023 and -7.7% in 2022. As of the end of 2023, the plan assets included MCHF 3.5 (PY: MCHF 5.8) in equity instruments of Geberit AG and MCHF 10.7 (PY: MCHF 10.7) in real estate property that is intended to be rented by Geberit companies.

The following table provides an analysis of the benefit obligations of the Swiss and German retirement benefit plans:

The weighted average duration of the benefit obligation for the Swiss retirement benefit plan is approx. 14 years (PY: approx. 14 years) and for the German retirement benefit plans approx. 10 years (PY: approx. 10 years).

In Switzerland there is an employer contribution reserve from which contribution payments of MCHF 2.3 were made in 2023. As at 31 December 2023, this reserve was valued at MCHF 0.7. Employer contributions for the Swiss retirement benefit plans of MCHF 13.6 are expected for the financial year 2024. 

The calculation of the benefit obligations for the material retirement benefit plans was based on the following assumptions (in %):

The trend for sickness cost does not affect benefit obligations in Switzerland or Germany.

The following sensitivity analysis shows how the present value of the benefit obligation for the material retirement benefit plans (CH and DE) would change if a single reporting date assumption were changed. Every assumption change was analysed separately. Interdependencies were not taken into account.

In addition, the Group’s consolidated income statement for 2023 included expenses for defined contribution plans of MCHF 10.8 (PY: MCHF 11.6).