185
2014 Registration Document
Consolidated Financial Statements Year ended December 31, 2014
5
Notes to the Consolidated statements
FRENCH PLANS
Group employees in France are entitled to a length-of-service award when
they retire, determined in accordance with the law and the applicable
collective bargaining agreement. The award is measured as a multiple of
the individual’s monthly salary for the last twelve months before retirement,
determined by reference to his or her years of service.
In 2009, the Group set up a supplementary pension plan. The main
terms of this defined benefit plan are as follows:
■
plan participants must have completed at least three years’ service
at the time of retirement, their annual compensation must be greater
than 16 times the annual ceiling for Social Security contributions and
they must still be employed by the Group at the time of retirement;
■
plan participants hired at age 45 or over are credited with up to
10 years’ service as follows: age 45 = 0 year; age 46 = 1 year;
age 47 = 2 years, etc;
■
years of service taken into account for the calculation of plan benefits
are capped at 20 years;
■
benefits: 1.5% of the reference compensation per year of service.
The reference compensation corresponds to the average of the last
three years’ salary and bonus or 60 times the annual ceiling for Social
Security contributions whichever is lower;
■
the replacement rate represented by pension benefits from all sources
is capped at 50% of the reference compensation;
■
the annual benefit is capped at 25% of the participant’s compensation
for the last full year of service;
■
upon the participant’s death, a reversionary pension is payable to the
surviving spouse in an amount equal to 50% of the original benefit.
BELGIAN PLANS
The Group’s main commitments in Belgium concern “prepensions” and
the “solidarity fund”.
Until the end of 2014, the prepension scheme provides for the payment
of unemployment benefits during the period from the retirement age
proposed in the collective bargaining agreement (58, or 52 for employees
concerned by the downsizing plan set up in 2010) and the statutory
retirement age (65). Carrefour is committed to topping up the benefits
paid by the Belgian State, so that the individuals concerned receive
95% of their final net salary.
New legislation that came into effect in Belgium on January 1, 2012
has pushed back the retirement age and increased the number of years
that will have to be worked to qualify for the scheme as from January 1,
2015. Under the collective bargaining agreement applicable to Carrefour,
employees will be eligible for prepension benefits from the age of 60
provided they have worked for 40 years, versus age 58 and 38 years’
work previously.
The solidarity fund is a corporate supplementary pension plan that offers
participants the choice between a lump sum payment on retirement or a
monthly pension for the rest of their lives. The plan was closed in 1994
and replaced by a defined contribution plan. Consequently, the projected
benefit obligation only concerns pension rights that vested before 1994.
ITALIAN PLANS
The Group’s commitments in Italy primarily concern the
Trattamento
di Fine Rapporto
(TFR) deferred salary scheme. The TFR scheme
underwent a radical reform in 2007, with employers now required to
pay contributions to an independent pension fund in full discharge of
the Group’s obligation, which therefore only concerns deferred salary
rights that vested before 2007.
30.2
NET INCOME/EXPENSE FOR THE PERIOD
Expense recognized in the income statement
(in € millions)
France
Belgium
Italy Other countries
Group total
Service cost
(1)
60
7
0
(0)
67
Interest cost (discount effect)
27
10
1
1
39
Return on plan assets
(3)
(3)
0
(0)
(6)
Other items
0
(0)
0
0
(0)
Expense (income) for 2013
84
15
1
0
100
Service cost
(1)
(70)
7
(3)
3
(63)
Interest cost (discount effect)
30
10
4
1
45
Return on plan assets
(3)
(3)
0
(0)
(6)
Other items
(0)
0
0
(1)
(1)
Expense (income) for 2014
(43)
14
1
2
(25)
(1) The following table presents details of service cost:




