Aquis Exchange Regulatory News (AQX)

15 June 2020

Aquis Exchange PLC

("Aquis", the "Company" or the "Group")

Issue of Options

and

Director/PDMR Notification

Aquis Exchange PLC (AQX.L), the exchange services group, announces that on 12 June 2020 it issued 36,000 options ("Options") over the Company's ordinary shares of 10p each ("Ordinary Shares") to employees of the Company under the Company's existing EMI plan and 88,803 options over Ordinary Shares to the executive directors of the Company under the Company's restricted share plan.

The Options granted to employees have an exercise price of £3.55, which is the closing mid-market price of the Company's existing ordinary shares on 11 June 2020, the latest practicable date prior to the issue of the Options. The Options will vest in tranches of one third on the first, second and third anniversary of the date of issue and expire 10 years from the date of issue. Vesting or exercise of the Options is not dependent on performance criteria.

Following the grant of the Options, the total number of Ordinary Shares outstanding under all Group EMI option schemes is 1,312,281, representing 4.8 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital.

The 88,803 options granted to the executive directors under the restricted share plan were granted and are exercisable at nominal value of 10p. 45,775 options were issued to Alasdair Haynes, CEO of the Company, and 43,028 to Jonathan Clelland, CFO and COO of the Company. These options will vest on the third anniversary of the date of issue with a further holding period of 2 years and expire 10 years from the date of issue. Vesting will be subject to underpin tests assessed by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee as detailed in the Company's 2019 Annual Report.

Enquiries:

Notes to editors:

Aquis Exchange PLC is an exchange services group, which operates pan-European cash equities trading businesses (Aquis Exchange), growth and regulated primary markets (Aquis Stock Exchange/AQSE) and develops/licenses exchange software to third parties (Aquis Technologies).

Aquis Exchange is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and France's Autorité des Marchés Financiers to operate Multilateral Trading Facility businesses in the UK and in EU27 respectively. Aquis operates a lit order book and does not allow aggressive non-client proprietary trading, which has resulted in lower toxicity and signalling risk on Aquis than other trading venues in Europe. According to independent studies, trades on Aquis are less likely to lead to price movement than on other lit markets. Aquis uses a subscription pricing model which works by charging users according to the message traffic they generate, rather than a percentage of the value of each stock that they trade.

Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE) is a stock market providing primary and secondary markets for equity and debt products. It is authorised as a Recognised Investment Exchange, which allows it to operate a regulated listings venue.

Aquis Technologies is the software and technology division of Aquis Exchange PLC. It creates and licenses cutting-edge, cost-effective matching engine and trade surveillance technology for banks, brokers, investment firms and exchanges.

Aquis Exchange PLC (AQX.L) is listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the LSE (AIM) market. For more information, please go to www.aquis.eu  

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them: