John Lewis Of Hungerford PLC New Long Term Incentive Plan (8348F)

TIDMJLH

RNS Number : 8348F

John Lewis Of Hungerford PLC

30 April 2014

John Lewis of Hungerford

New Long Term Incentive Plan

John Lewis of Hungerford plc ("the Company") announces that it has introduced a new long term incentive plan ("LTIP") to strengthen its ability to attract and retain key senior executives through ensuring participants receive competitive incentives which align their interests with those of the Company's shareholders.

Participation in the LTIP will be at the discretion of the Remuneration Committee with awards being based on a percentage of the participant's base annual salary at the date the recommendation is made. Awards will give participants a right to receive up to a specified maximum number of shares in the Company subject to achievement of a performance target or targets to be determined by the Remuneration Committee. The awards will vest early under certain other circumstances, including in the event of a change of control in the Company. The awards will be made in the form of options to acquire shares at a price of 0.1p per share.

The following awards were granted yesterday pursuant to the LTIP ("Initial Awards"):

 
 Director          Number of awards 
 Kiran Noonan             5,000,000 
 Jon Rosby                5,946,333 
 Karen Stanley            4,041,067 
 Damian Walters           4,666,667 
                  ----------------- 
                         19,654,067 
                  -----------------

The Remuneration Committee has determined that in each case the vesting of these awards should be conditional upon the following performance conditions:

 
 --   40% of the awards will vest provided turnover in the financial 
       year ending 31 August 2016 ("Performance Period") is greater 
       than GBP10million. The percentage vesting in this component 
       of the award will be determined on a straight-line sliding scale 
       if turnover is between GBP8 million and GBP10 million and will 
       be zero if it is less than GBP8 million; 
 --   60% of the awards will vest provided profit on ordinary activities 
       before taxation ("Profit") for the Performance Period is more 
       than GBP500,000. The percentage of shares vesting in this component 
       of the award will be determined on a straight-line sliding scale 
       if Profit is between GBP300,000 and GBP500,000; and 
 --   The Initial Awards will lapse if Profit for the Performance 
       Period is less than GBP300,000.

The plan is subject to an overall limit on the number of awards that may be made under it. This provides that in any ten-year period not more than 15%. in aggregate of the issued ordinary shares of the Company may be issued to satisfy awards granted under the LTIP and any other share incentive arrangements adopted by the Company. In view of existing option schemes operated by the Company the grant of the Initial Awards would breach this limit.

In light of this the Company's founder and largest shareholder, John Lewis, a non-executive director of the Company, has personally contributed to the Initial Awards through the grant of options over existing shares held by him. Accordingly the Initial Awards shall comprise 13,214,143 awards issued by the Company and 6,439,924 awards issued personally by Mr Lewis over shares already in issue. The proportion contributed by Mr Lewis to the awards made to each director shown above is the same in each case. To the extent that the Initial Awards vest in accordance with the performance conditions they shall derive first, in each case, from the awards made by the Company and only if that award is fully vested will the balance be satisfied from the awards granted by Mr Lewis.

In addition the Company announces that Jon Rosby (an executive director of the Company) has waived 3,300,000 existing options over ordinary shares granted to him on 22 March 2007.

Malcolm Hepworth, Chairman, commented:

"We view this as an important step in securing our senior leadership team who have driven the business forward in recent years. We are grateful to John Lewis for his assistance in enabling us to launch the scheme, the benefit of which will be felt by all shareholders."

ENDS

Enquiries:

 
 John Lewis of Hungerford plc 
  Malcolm Hepworth - Chairman                    01 235 774 300 
 
 Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance Limited 
  Martyn Fraser                                  0117 376 2213

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

MSCPGUPUCUPCGMB

John Lewis Of Hungerford (LSE:JLH)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024