GLOBAL - Unilever has reported the aggregate net deficit of its pension funds remains stable at €1.1bn, despite recent market turmoil.

Quarterly results from the firm revealed the overall value of the group's pension schemes both funded and unfunded - which include among others the €7.4bn UK scheme and the €4bn Dutch scheme Progress - was €14.2bn at the end of September 2008.

However, it revealed while increases to the corporate AA bond rates used to discount liabilities reduced the value of the obligations by €3bn, recent falls in asset values reduced the size of the scheme by the same amount.

As a result, the aggregate value of its pension obligations is €15.3bn, and although Unilever claimed its funded pension schemes have a surplus of around €1bn, its unfunded plans, such as those in Germany, have a deficit of €2.1bn.

Unilever is unable to give a breakdown of the figures for each scheme, however the overall net deficit remains at €1.1bn - the same figure reported by the firm at the end of 2007.

"The overall funding position of the group's pension arrangements was little changed over the first nine months of the year, as the impact of higher IAS 19 discount rates largely outweighed falls in asset values," Unilever stated.

Progress, Unilever's Dutch pension fund confirmed in July 2008 it intended to increase its commodities allocation by the end of 2008 as part of a risk-reduction exercise. (See earlier IPE article: Unilever fund to double commodities)

A statement issued earlier this week also revealed Progress is switching its real estate strategy from direct to indirect holdings.