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Retirement plans
 12 Months Ended
Feb. 03, 2024
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
Retirement plans Retirement plans
Signet previously provided a defined benefit pension plan in the UK (the “UK Plan”) to participating eligible employees, which was frozen effective in October 2019. All future benefit accruals under the plan ceased as of that date.
On July 29, 2021, Signet Group Limited (“SGL”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into an agreement (the “Agreement”) with Signet Pension Trustee Limited (the “Trustee”), as trustee of the Signet Group Pension Scheme (the “Pension Scheme”), to facilitate the Trustee entering into a bulk purchase annuity policy ("BPA") securing accrued liabilities under the Pension Scheme with Rothesay Life Plc ("Rothesay") and subsequently, to wind up the Pension Scheme. The BPA is held by the Trustee as an asset of the Pension Scheme (the "buy-in") in anticipation of Rothesay subsequently (and in accordance with the terms of the BPA) issuing individual annuity contracts to each of the 1,909 Pension Scheme members (or their eligible beneficiaries) ("Transferred Participants") covering their accrued benefits (a full “buy-out”), following which the BPA will terminate and the Trustee will wind up the Pension Scheme (collectively, the “Transactions”).
From the point of buy-out, Rothesay shall be liable to pay the insured benefits to the Transferred Participants and shall be responsible for the administration of those benefits. Once all Pension Scheme members (or their eligible beneficiaries) have become Transferred Participants, the Trustee will wind up the Pension Scheme. By irrevocably transferring these obligations to Rothesay, the Company will eliminate its projected benefit obligation under the Pension Scheme.
In connection with the Transactions, SGL has contributed £16.1 million to date (approximately $21.5 million), including £1.1 million (approximately $1.4 million) in Fiscal 2024, to the Pension Scheme to enable the Trustee to pay for any and all costs incurred by the Trustee as part of the Transactions.
On August 9, 2021, in connection with the transfer of assets into the BPA as noted above, the Company performed a remeasurement of the Pension Scheme based on the terms of the BPA which resulted in a pre-tax actuarial loss of £53.3 million (approximately $72.9 million) recorded within the consolidated statements of comprehensive income.
On April 22, 2022, the Trustee entered into a Deed Poll agreement with Rothesay and a Deed of Assignment with SGL to facilitate the assignment of individual policies for a significant portion of the Transferred Participants (“Assigned Participants”). The Deed Poll and Deed of Assignment, collectively, irrevocably relieve SGL and the Trustee of its obligations under the policies to the Assigned Participants.
As a result of the Deed Poll and Deed of Assignment, as well as the voluntary lump sum distributions, the Company has determined that a transfer of all remaining risks has occurred with respect to these groups of participants. Thus, management concluded that the Company triggered settlement accounting and performed a remeasurement of the Pension Scheme, which resulted in a non-cash, pre-tax settlement charge of $131.9 million recorded within other non-operating expense, net within the consolidated statements of operations during the first quarter of Fiscal 2023.
Additional settlement events occurred in the second and fourth quarters of Fiscal 2023 and the first quarter of Fiscal 2024, which resulted in non-cash, pre-tax settlement charges of $0.9 million, $0.9 million and $0.2 million, respectively, which were recorded within other non-operating expense, net within the consolidated statements of operations. With this transfer in the first quarter of Fiscal 2024, the Company finalized the buy-out of the BPA and settlement of the remaining obligations under the Pension Scheme.
The settlement charges recorded in Fiscal 2023 and Fiscal 2024 relate to the pro-rata recognition of previously unrecognized actuarial losses and prior service costs out of AOCI and into earnings associated with the buy-out of the benefit obligation. No further amounts remain unrecognized in AOCI as of February 3, 2024.
On December 13, 2023, the Trustee entered into a Deed of Determination with SGL to finalize the wind-up of the Pension Scheme. The Deed of Determination discharged SGL and the Trustee from all duties and obligations under the Pension Scheme.
The following tables provide information concerning the UK Plan as of and for the fiscal years ended February 3, 2024 and January 28, 2023:
(in millions)Fiscal 2024Fiscal 2023
Change in UK Plan assets:
Fair value at beginning of year
$2.7 $295.6 
Actual return on UK Plan assets
(2.5)(28.4)
Employer contributions
1.4 10.4 
Benefits paid
— (2.7)
Plan settlements
(1.6)(260.0)
Foreign currency translation
— (12.2)
Fair value at end of year
$— $2.7 
(in millions)Fiscal 2024Fiscal 2023
Change in benefit obligation:
Benefit obligation at beginning of year
$1.6 $303.3 
Interest cost
— 1.0 
Actuarial gain
— (29.5)
Benefits paid
— (2.7)
Plan settlements
(1.6)(260.0)
Foreign currency translation
— (10.5)
Benefit obligation at end of year
$— $1.6 
Funded status at end of year
$— $1.1 
As a result of the wind-up of the Pension Scheme in the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2024, the UK Plan is not expected to have any future benefit payments.
(in millions)February 3, 2024January 28, 2023
Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets consist of:
Other assets (non-current)
$— $1.1 
Items in AOCI not yet recognized in net income in the consolidated statements of operations:
(in millions)February 3, 2024January 28, 2023January 29, 2022
Net actuarial gains (losses)
$— $3.9 $(103.3)
Net prior service costs
— — (3.9)
The accumulated benefit obligation for the UK Plan was $0.0 million and $1.6 million as of February 3, 2024 and January 28, 2023, respectively.
Prior to the finalization of the wind-up of the Pension Scheme, the net periodic pension costs of the UK Plan were measured on an actuarial basis using the projected unit credit method and several actuarial assumptions, the most significant of which were the discount rate and the expected long-term rate of return on plan assets. Other material assumptions included rates of participant mortality, the expected long-term rate of compensation and pension increases, and rates of employee attrition. Gains and losses occurred when actual experience differed from actuarial assumptions. If such gains or losses exceeded 10% of the greater of plan assets or plan liabilities, Signet amortized those gains or losses over the average remaining service period of the employees. The service cost component of net periodic pension cost was charged to SG&A while non-service, interest and other costs components were charged to other non-operating expense, net, in the consolidated statements of operations.
The components of pre-tax net periodic pension benefit cost and other amounts recognized in OCI for the UK Plan are as follows:
(in millions)Fiscal 2024Fiscal 2023Fiscal 2022
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Interest cost
$— $(1.0)$(3.3)
Expected return on UK Plan assets
(2.5)(0.3)3.0 
Amortization of unrecognized actuarial losses
— (3.5)(2.1)
Amortization of unrecognized net prior service costs
— (0.3)(0.1)
Pension settlement loss
(0.2)(133.7)— 
Total net periodic benefit cost
$(2.7)$(138.8)$(2.5)
Other changes in assets and benefit obligations recognized in OCI
0.2 137.0 (69.2)
Total recognized in net periodic pension benefit cost and OCI
$(2.5)$(1.8)$(71.7)
As a result of the wind-up of the plan, there were no remaining Plan assets as of February 3, 2024. the fair value of the assets in the assets in the UK Plan at January 28, 2023 were required to be classified and disclosed in one of the following three categories:
Level 1—quoted market prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities
Level 2—observable market based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data
Level 3—unobservable inputs that are not corroborated by market data
Signet measured the value of the assets on an instrument-specific basis as detailed below:
As of January 28, 2023
(in millions)TotalLevel 1Level 2Level 3
Investments measured at fair value:
Insurance contracts
$1.6 $— $— $1.6 
Cash
1.1 1.1 — — 
Total assets$2.7 $1.1 $— $1.6 
The following represents a summary of changes in fair value of UK Plan assets classified as Level 3:
(in millions)Fiscal 2024Fiscal 2023
Beginning of year balance$1.6 $291.6 
Purchases, sales, and settlements, net(1.6)(262.7)
Actual return on assets, assets still held at reporting date— (16.1)
Foreign currency translation— (11.2)
End of year balance$— $1.6 
The BPA was considered a Level 3 asset as the value of the asset is based on the implied value of the liability as determined based on the underlying employee data and actuarial assumptions described above, which are all significant unobservable inputs.
Other retirement plans
In June 2004, Signet introduced a defined contribution plan which replaced the UK Plan for new UK employees. The contributions to this plan in Fiscal 2024 were $2.4 million (Fiscal 2023: $2.5 million; Fiscal 2022: $2.4 million).
In the US, Signet operates a defined contribution 401(k) retirement savings plan for all eligible employees who meet minimum age and service requirements. The assets of this plan are held in a separate trust and Signet matches 50% of up to 6% of employee elective salary deferrals, subject to statutory limitations. Signet’s contributions to this plan in Fiscal 2024 were $13.6 million (Fiscal 2023: $12.6 million; Fiscal 2022: $13.0 million).
The Company has also established two unfunded, non-qualified deferred compensation plans (“DCP”), one of which permits certain management and highly compensated employees to elect annually to defer all or a portion of their compensation and are credited earnings or losses on the deferred amounts under the terms of the plan and the other of which is frozen as to new participants and new deferrals. Beginning in April 2011, the DCP provided for a matching contribution based on each participant’s annual compensation deferral. The DCP also permits employer contributions on a discretionary basis. The cost recognized in connection with the DCP in Fiscal 2024 was $5.4 million (Fiscal 2023: $1.7 million; Fiscal 2022: $2.2 million).
Although the DCP is not required to be funded by the Company, the Company has elected to fund the DCP by investing in trust-owned life insurance policies and mutual funds. The value and classification of these assets are as follows:
As of February 3, 2024As of January 28, 2023
(in millions)Total 
Level 1		TotalLevel 1
Investments measured at fair value:
Mutual funds
$22.4 $22.4 $16.6 $16.6 
Investments measured at NAV:
Money market mutual funds
2.8 5.7 
Total assets
$25.2 $22.4 $22.3 $16.6 
The Company also has company-owned life insurance policies held for purposes of funding the DCP totaling $5.6 million and $5.5 million as of February 3, 2024 and January 28, 2023, respectively.
As of February 3, 2024 and January 28, 2023, the total liability recorded by the Company for the DCP was $38.5 million and $33.9 million, respectively.