Nuttall pension fund slightly down at £46m

Edmund Nuttall trimmed back the deficit in its pension fund last year to £46m after seeing the gap rise to £49m at the end of previous period.

While Nuttall’s pension fund’s liabilities shot up to £207m (from a previous figure of £189m), there was some comfort from a strengthening in the market value of the scheme’s assets.

At the end of the year they were valued at £161m (up £21m on the previous figure of £140m).

The final salary pension fund was closed to new entrants in December 2005.

Various assumptions made in the scheme include rate of salary increases which were put at:

• 4% in 2005
• 4.2% in 2006
• 4.6% in 2007

The rate of increase in pensions in payment rose consistently at 5% annually throughout the three-year period.

Information published by Companies House today shows Nuttall to be well above the construction  industry average in the time taken to pay trade creditors – Nuttall’s figure being 38 days.

The total remuneration paid to Nuttall’s directors during the year broke through the £1m barrier, climbing from £907,000 to £1.0m, while the number of directors on a defined benefit scheme increased from two to three.

The highest-paid director received £309,000. His pension entitlement, further down the line, will be £189,000 per year.

In 2007, Peter Brooks was chief executive until 8 May, at which point he was promoted up onto the executive board of Royal Bam which is Nuttall’s parent group and is based in Holland.

Martin Rogers, who came on board on 1 April, then took over the reins as Brooks’ successor.

A year of strong trading resulted in Nuttall’s year-end cash position strengthening to £105m, a rise of £44m on the previous year.