Company: BCO
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000078890-25-000059
Chunk: 254

Company: BRINKS CO
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 254
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 when preparing financial projections of cash flow used in our impairment analyses, including assumptions of future results of operations including revenue growth rate and operating income over the forecast period, capital requirements, income taxes, long-term growth rates for determining terminal value, and discount rates. Our projections assumed continued growth of our revenues and operating profit both in the U.S. and outside the U.S. Our conclusions regarding asset impairment may have been different if we had used different assumptions.

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Retirement and Post employment Benefit Obligations

We provide benefits through defined benefit pension plans and retiree medical benefit plans and under statutory requirements.

Accounting Policy

We account for pension and other retirement benefit obligations under FASB ASC Topic 715, Compensation – Retirement Benefits. We account for post employment benefit obligations, including workers’ compensation obligations, under FASB ASC Topic 712, Compensation – Non retirement Post employment Benefits.

To account for these benefits, we make assumptions of expected return on assets, discount rates, inflation, demographic factors and changes in the laws and regulations covering the benefit obligations. Because of the inherent volatility of these items and because the obligations are significant, changes in the assumptions could have a material effect on our liabilities and expenses related to these benefits.

Our most significant retirement plans include our primary U.S. pension plan and the retiree medical plans of our former coal business that were collectively bargained with the United Mine Workers of America (the “UMWA”). The critical accounting estimates that determine the carrying values of liabilities and the resulting annual expense are discussed below.

Application of Accounting Policy

Discount Rate Assumptions

For plans accounted under FASB ASC Topic 715, we discount estimated future payments using discount rates based on market conditions at the end of the year. In general, our liability changes in an inverse relationship to interest rates. That is, the lower the discount rate, the higher the associated plan obligation. 

U.S. Plans

For our largest retirement plans, including the primary U.S. pension and UMWA plans and Black Lung obligations, we derive the discount rates used to measure the present value of benefit obligations using the cash flow matching method. Under this method, we compare the plan’s projected payment obligations by year with the corresponding yields on a Mercer yield curve. Each year’s projected cash flows are then discounted back to their present value at the measurement date and an overall discount rate is determined. The overall discount rate is then rounded to the nearest tenth of a percentage point. 

We used Mercer’s Above