Samuel Smith Brewery and its chairman must pay fines of almost £28,000 for failing to hand over to the Pensions Regulator requested information relating to its defined benefit schemes, Brighton Magistrates Court ruled on Monday.
Humphrey Smith and his company both pleaded guilty to the charge of neglecting or refusing to provide information or documents without a reasonable excuse.
The regulator had requested information about the brewery's financial position, in response to the submission of a 2015 valuation of several schemes. The letter of refusal it received adopted a "very terse tone", according to District Judge Teresa Szagun.
The information was later submitted, but was three month's after the regulator's deadline and after criminal proceedings had begun.
Nicola Parish, executive director for frontline regulation at the regulator, said: “As Mr Smith has discovered, becoming compliant with our requests after a court summons has been served will not halt criminal proceedings.”
