News

On 19 February 2015, Coats plc announced that it had agreed the sale of its EMEA Crafts business to the AURELIUS Group, a Munich based listed pan-European investor. The agreement to sell EMEA Crafts follows a comprehensive review conducted by the Coats team over the last 12 months, including the strategic fit of the EMEA Crafts business with the wider Coats business. The sale will enable Coats plc to focus on further growing its successful global Industrial and profitable Americas Crafts businesses.

The Trustees were briefed on the announcement and are in discussions with Coats regarding any implications for the Coats Pension Plan. Once there is any more information to report we will inform members. There is no change to the Plan and it is business as usual.

For more information, please see the news release on www.coats.com/news

Guinness Peat Group plc has publicly announced that the Pensions Regulator has issued a ‘Warning Notice’ that it is formally considering exercising powers to issue a financial support direction to Guinness Peat Group plc, GPG (UK) Holdings plc and Coats plc in relation to the Coats Pension Plan.

A financial support direction, if issued, would require Guinness Peat Group plc, GPG (UK) Holdings plc and Coats plc to secure that appropriate, additional financial support is put in place for the Plan.

This action follows a lengthy investigation by the Regulator, which has already been publicly announced.

The trustee of the Plan will be directly involved in the process involving the Regulator’s exercise of its powers.

Whilst the trustee will seek to keep you updated, the Regulator’s process is confidential and it may not be possible for the trustee to provide any progress reports, or otherwise comment, until after the process is concluded.

The latest edition of Pensions News is being issued to all our members and should be delivered in late November.

Also distributed with this edition is the Annual Funding Statement as at 1 April 2014.

Please note that these documents, and other documents containing member-related information, can now be found in a secure, members only area of the website. To access the information in the members only area, you will need a password. Members can access this document by entering their password at our members’ page – please click here. If you are a Plan member and you do not have a password, you can call 0141 207 6800, or email pensions.services@coats.com. You will need to give your Plan member number (or NI number) and date of birth.

If you are still receiving your copy of Pensions News by post, please remember that you can save the Plan money by choosing to receive future editions of Pensions News and other general correspondence electronically. If you have already given us your email address, thank you.

The Referendum is over and the majority of voters in Scotland have elected to remain part of the United Kingdom. The main UK political parties have pledged to devolve further powers to the Scottish Parliament, and pensions remain high on the political agenda for the foreseeable future. We will provide further information when it becomes available, but in the meantime, you can click here to read our factsheet on the implications of a No vote.

We are pleased to advise that the Trustee Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2014 are now available to view online.

Please note that this document, and other documents containing member-related information (including Pensions News), can now be found in a secure, members only area of the website. Members can access this document by entering their password at our members’ page – please click here. If you are a Plan member and you do not have a password, you can call 0141 207 6800, or email pensions.services@coats.com. You will need to give your Plan member number (or NI number) and date of birth.