FTSE100 Pensions Boast £4 billion Surplus

July 2, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A study by Pension Capital Strategies Ltd. (PCS), a London-based pension risk management and recovery adviser, found that the pensions of the FTSE100 have now achieved an overall surplus of £4 billion.

The research found that the performance marked the first time in five years that the plans achieved that amount of assets, according to a news release from the firm.

The firm called the latest showing a “remarkable turnaround” from its March 2007 study, which found that FTSE100 pension schemes had deficits of £20 billion.

“This good news does however raise a number of difficult questions for companies and shareholders around the treatment of surplus assets,” the firm commented. “PCS believes that if companies and shareholders are not receiving the full benefit of any upside in the pension scheme investment performance, then the investment risk in the pension scheme becomes inefficient and costly for shareholders.”

The company continued: “In many cases it would make sense for companies to lock in recent gains and encourage a significant reduction in risk taking in the pension scheme, a move which should also be welcomed by trustees.”

More information is at  www.pensionstrategies.co.uk .

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