Reach PLC has announced plans to provide an additional £5m in funding for the West Ferry Printers Pension Scheme, after recent due diligence revealed a historical error.

Reach PLC's latest trading update confirmed that a historical error was discovered as part of the due diligence to prepare the scheme for buyout, resulting in an estimated £5m additional funding requirement, which the group expects to pay in 2025.

However, the group confirmed that it has reviewed its other schemes for the same error, and has not identified any material items.

It also explained that this issue was unrelated to the 2022 triennial pension valuations for its remaining schemes, which remain unchanged.

Despite the additional funding requirements, the group said that trading in Q4 was "strong", suggesting that it now expects to deliver results ahead of current market expectations for the full year as a result.

The West Ferry Printers Pension Scheme is a legacy scheme inherited in the 2018 acquisition of Express Newspaper.

Rothesay previously reached an agreement with Reach and the scheme trustee in December 2020 to fully fund the scheme as part of a business restructuring, before completing a £120m full buy-in transaction with the scheme in 2021.

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