
Management review Consolidated financial statements Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Parent company Other
DKT Holdings Annual Report 2023 68
Defined benefit plan
Under conditions similar to those provided by the
Danish Civil Servants’ Pension Plan, 524 of DKTH
Group’s employees (2022: 623) were entitled to
pensions from the pension fund related to the
Group. Of these, 19 (2022: 12) employees were
seconded to external parties in connection with
outsourcing tasks or divesting operations. In ad-
dition, 7,257 (2022: 7,398) members of the pen-
sion fund receive or are entitled to receive pen-
sion benefits. The pension benefits comprise life-
long old-age and disability pensions as well as
certain benefits for spouses and children. Future
pension benefits are based primarily on years of
credited service and on participants’ compensa-
tion at the time of retirement. Since 1990, no new
members have joined the pension fund plans,
and the pension fund is prevented from admitting
new members in the future due to the articles of
association.
The pension fund operates defined benefit plans
via a separate legal entity supervised by the
Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA). In
accordance with existing legislation, articles of
association and the pension regulations, the
Group is required to make contributions to meet
the capital adequacy requirements. When all pen-
sion obligations have been met, the remaining
funds will be distributed from the pension fund to
DKTH Group.
With effect from 2019, TDC Pension Fund can un-
der certain circumstances distribute excess
capital to DKTH Group triggering a payment to
members of the pension fund as well. The mem-
bers of the pension fund receive 7.5% of a poten-
tial future distribution from TDC Pension Fund.
Pensioners receive the distribution as part of the
current pension payments, while employees in
service receive a supplement to their future pen-
sion benefits. The pension members’ shares of
distribution are expensed when incurred and rec-
ognised in special items. In 2023, TDC’s Pen-
sions Fund distributed DKK 500m (2022: DKK
1,250m), of which DKTH Group received DKK
437m (2022: DKK 1,156m).
Ordinary monthly contributions to the pension
fund are made corresponding to a percentage of
wages. The ordinary contributions have been
reduced from 1 January 2018. This decision was
made due to the positive funding situation of the
pension fund. Extraordinary contributions are
made in connection with redundancy pro-
grammes and other retirements. Overall, the risk
of additional capital contributions to the pension
fund can be categorised as investment, longevity
and regulatory risks.
Investment risk is managed within risk tolerance
limits to mitigate excessive risk that could lead to
contributions. The fund invests in a wide variety
of marketable securities (predominantly fixed-in-
come securities) and the return on the invest-
ments has implications for DKTH Group’s finan-
cial results. Uncompensated risk related to nomi-
nal interest rates and inflation has been hedged.
In 2011, the Danish FSA introduced the longevity
benchmark for statutory purposes, and the fund’s
actuary has since on a yearly basis conducted a
detailed longevity statistical analyses that have
generally underpinned the fund’s assumptions
regarding observed current longevity. In line with
the sector, however, the fund has increased its
provisions for future expected improvements to
longevity corresponding to the updated Danish
FSA benchmark.
Other risks relating to capital contributions in ex-
cess of the planned ordinary contributions and
extraordinary contributions in connection with re-
dundancies going forward, relate primarily to fu-
ture changes to pension regulation and benefits
over which the Group does not have full control.
The surplus under the Danish FSA pension regu-
lation amounted to approximately DKK 4.7bn
(2022: DKK 3.6bn). The equity of the pension
fund amounted to approx. DKK 5.6bn (2022: DKK
4.5bn). The equity differs from the pension as-
sets recognised in accordance with IFRS due to
specific FSA pension regulation requirements re-
sulting in a higher pension obligation for regula-
tory purposes. The method for determining the
fair value of plan assets is identical under the two
requirements. The pension assets recognised in
accordance with IFRS amounted to approximately
DKK 11.0bn (2022: 10.9bn).
3.8 | Pension assets and pension obligations
In a defined contribution plan, DKTH Group
pays fixed contributions to a third party on
behalf of the employees and has no further
obligations towards the employees. The ben-
efits for the employees ultimately depend on
the third party’s ability to generate returns.
In a defined benefit plan, members receive
cash payments on retirement, the values of
which depends on factors such as salary and
length of service. The Group underwrites in-
vestment, mortality and inflation risks neces-
sary to meet these obligations. In the event of
returns not being sufficient to honour obliga-
tions towards the employees, DKTH Group
needs to address this through increased
levels of contribution. The Group has defined a
benefit plan in TDC Pension Fund. In total, 623
of TDCH group’s employees are covered by the
defined benefit plan, while all other employees
are covered by defined contribution plans.
DKTH Group makes contributions to TDC Pen-
sion Fund, which is not consolidated in these fi-
nancial statements, but are reflected in the bal-
ance sheet in pension assets. TDC Pension
Fund can, under certain circumstances, distrib-
ute excess capital to DKTH Group, triggering a
payment to members of the pension fund as
well. DKTH Group’s pension assets and pension
obligations are outlined in more detail in the
following.