28 Jul 2014 07:00
28 July 2014
Applied Graphene Materials plc
("Applied Graphene Materials", "the Group" or "the Company")
Issue of share options to Directors
Applied Graphene Materials announces that share options over ordinary shares of 2 pence each in the Company were granted on 24 July 2014 to the following Directors under the terms of the Company's Enterprise Management Incentive scheme ("EMI") and also its Non-Approved Executive Option Scheme ("Non-Approved"):
Name | Number of shares subject to an EMI option | Number of shares subject to an Non-Approved option | Option exercise price per share | Total number of options held under all schemes |
Jon Mabbitt | 11,551 | 23,333 | £nil | 383,816 |
Oliver Lightowlers | 24,340 | 8,218 | £nil | 287,158 |
Claudio Marinelli | 20,930 | - | £nil | 138,652 |
Karl Coleman | 4,360 | - | £nil | 4,360 |
The vesting of both EMI and Non-Approved options is subject to the relative performance of the Company's share price, compared to the FTSE AIM All Share Index, for the period from the date of grant to November 2016.
In the event that the Company's share price performs better than the FTSE AIM All Share Index, for the performance period, then 25% of the options will vest. Further vesting will be dependent upon the extent to which the Company's share price outperforms the FTSE AIM All Share Index, with full vesting arising for performance exceeding the benchmark by 25%. Percentage vesting is weighted to towards the upper parts of the vesting scale. In each case, performance will be measured using the one month average share price and FTSE AIM All Share Index value in the period prior to the start and end of the performance period. The starting one month average share price and FTSE AIM All Share Index value in respect of the options granted were £4.30 and 778.6 respectively.
Subject to vesting the options would be exercisable in the period between November 2016 and July 2024. Nil consideration is payable in respect of either the grant or exercise of these options.
This is the first discretionary option award made to the Directors since the Group's admission to AIM in November 2013. Hence forth, it is expected that option awards will be made annually in November of each year following announcement of annual results, with the next award to be made in November 2015.
Ends
For further information, please contact:
Applied Graphene Materials +44 (0) 1642 438 214
Jon Mabbitt, Chief Executive Officer
Oliver Lightowlers, Chief Financial Officer
N+1 Singer +44 (0) 207 496 3000
Shaun Dobson / Richard Lindley
Hudson Sandler +44 (0) 207 796 4133
Charlie Jack / Emily Dillon
Notes to Editors
Applied Graphene Materials was founded by Professor Karl Coleman in 2010 with its operations and processes based on technology that he initially developed at Durham University. The Group was admitted to AIM in November 2013, raising £11 million, and is based at the Wilton Site on Teesside.
The Group has developed a proprietary bottom-up process for the production of high purity graphene nanoplatelets and owns the intellectual property and know-how behind this process. Applied Graphene Materials' process is based on sustainable, readily available raw materials and therefore does not rely on the supply of graphite, unlike a number of other graphene production techniques. It is capable of producing high purity graphene using a continuous process. Applied Graphene Materials provides dispersion and product integration expertise to deliver solutions for a wide range of applications.