RE: RNS out15 Sep 2020 20:03
To be clear about employee options (I've been there). The plc offers options to certain incentivised staff to purchase ordinary shares at X price, between date A and date B. Typically these will be 1-3 years in the future i.e. it is in the interests of the staff to work to half the SP to be above the option price somewhere in that date range, and/or to still be employed, as they usually lapse if they leave the company. I would expect these options were issued 1-2 years ago, and the staff are excercising them now for only 3 reasons. They are about to lapse (unlikely to be the cause here), or they want to buy at the option price (that's going to be pretty low!!) and sell right away for the profit as they know it's about to tank (also unlikely to be the cause), or exercise now so that they are in the market when the bagger comes. There's no point sitting on an unexercised option the morning the SP goes bonkers. That's the reason these staff have moved now, IMHO.