Large pension funds 'move into the black'
Some of Britain's largest pension schemes have moved into surplus, despite the falling equities markets.According to new figures from Mercer, company pension plans from FTSE 350 firms moved from a collective deficit of £47 billion at the end of June to a £1 billion surplus at the end of September.Falling liabilities at the schemes were cited by the firm as a reason for their move into the black.Moreover, Mercer also confirmed that the funds were remaining in surplus by October 10th.This was despite a 21 per cent drop on the FTSE 100 the previous week.Indeed, across September the FTSE All-Shares Index lost over 13 per cent of its value, a drop which was cancelled out by the liabilities trend.Deborah Cooper at Mercer explained: "Recent equity market falls have been offset, on an accounting basis, by falls in liability values, so company balance sheet liabilities will not have increased by as much as was perhaps expected."
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