27 Apr 2016 11:00
Date: | 27 April 2016 |
On behalf of: | Finsbury Food Group plc ('Finsbury', 'the Company' or 'the Group') |
For immediate release | |
Finsbury Food Group plc
Legacy Director Share Options and Employee Benefit Trust Purchase
Finsbury Food Group plc (AIM: FIF), a leading UK manufacturer of cake, bread and morning goods for both the retail and foodservice channels, announces the settlement of legacy unapproved options granted in 2011 to John Duffy, the Group CEO, and Steve Boyd, the Group Finance Director, over 2,500,000 and 2,753,659 ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") respectively, on 26 April 2016. Mr Duffy and Mr Boyd have agreed to cancel their 2011 options and in return have been issued 1,102,957 and 1,214,867 Ordinary Shares.
The legacy 2011 share options, which have to be satisfied by October 2016, were put in place at a share price of 20.5p. The Remuneration Committee can confirm that the performance conditions attached to the legacy 2011 share options, which were designed to reward the turnaround of the Group, were met in full in 2013.
The legacy 2011 share options have been settled in line with the approach followed previously in the settlement of vested options which is designed to minimise dilution. The net effect for Mr Duffy and Mr Boyd of settling the legacy 2011 share options in this way is the same as if they had exercised the options in full and then sold such number of Ordinary Shares as was necessary to meet the exercise price of 20.5 pence per Ordinary Share and the tax costs associated with the exercise of the options. A cash amount of £1,196,503 and £1,317,904 respectively will be paid to meet the PAYE and national insurance payable in respect of the settlement of the options. There is no additional cash benefit to Mr Duffy or Mr Boyd as a result of settling the options in this way.
Following the above, the Company has been informed by Mr Duffy and Mr Boyd that they have sold the Ordinary Shares issued to them. The Ordinary Shares were acquired by the Finsbury Food Group Plc Employee Benefit Trust ("EBT") at a price per Ordinary Share of 122.33 pence. The Ordinary Shares, which will be held in the EBT, are intended to be used to satisfy awards made under the Finsbury Food Group Plc Long Term Incentive Plan and to satisfy future annual bonus payments. The EBT is a discretionary trust for the benefit of employees of Finsbury and its subsidiaries, including the Executive Directors of Finsbury. Following these transactions, a total of 3,593,641 Ordinary Shares, representing 2.76 per cent of the current issued share capital of the Company, are held in the EBT.
Following the transactions set out above, Mr Duffy is interested in 2,197,599 Ordinary Shares, which represents 1.69 per cent. of the current issued share capital of the Company, and 1,832,993 options over Ordinary Shares. Mr Boyd is interested in 961,034 Ordinary Shares, which represents 0.74 per cent. of the current issued share capital of the Company, and 1,226,268 options over Ordinary Shares.
As at 26 April 2016 Finsbury's issued share capital consists of 130,383,361 Ordinary Shares. No Ordinary Shares are currently held in Treasury. The total number of current voting rights in the Company is therefore 130,383,361 Ordinary Shares.
The above figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
- ENDS -
For further information: | |
Finsbury Food Group plc | www.finsburyfoods.co.uk |
John Duffy (Chief Executive) | 029 20 357 500 |
Stephen Boyd (Finance Director) | |
Cenkos Securities plc | |
Bobbie Hilliam (Corporate Finance) | |
Oliver Baxendale (Sales) | |
Redleaf Communications | finsbury@redleafpr.com |
Rebecca Sanders-Hewett | 020 7382 4730 |
Sarah Fabietti Harriet Lynch |
Publication quality photographs are available via Redleaf Communications on the numbers shown above.
Notes to Editors:
§ Finsbury Food Group Plc (AIM: FIF) is a leading UK manufacturer of cake and bread bakery goods, supplying a broad range of blue chip customers within both the grocery retail and 'out of home eating' foodservice sectors including major multiples and leading foodservice providers.
§ Following the acquisition of the Fletchers Group of bakeries, the Company is one of the largest speciality bakery groups in the UK with annualised revenues exceeding £300 million.
§ The Company's bakery product range is comprehensive and includes:
- Large premium and celebration cakes.
- Small snacking cake formats such as cake slices and bites.
- Artisan, healthy lifestyle and organic breads through to rolls, muffins (sweet and savoury) and morning pastries, all of which are available both fresh and frozen dependent on customer channel requirements.
§ The Company is a leading manufacturer and supplier of ambient packaged cake (excluding In Store Bakery) and bread and morning goods in the UK within the grocery retail and the UK foodservice bakery sectors. The ambient cake market (excluding In Store Bakery) is valued at £948 million (Source Symphony IRI 52 w/e 5 December 2015). The annual bread and morning goods market has a value in excess of £4.1 billion (source Kantar Worldpanel). The UK foodservice bakery sector is worth approximately £800 million per annum and the UK foodservice cake and sweet treats market is worth approximately £500 million per annum.
§ The Company comprises a UK Bakery division and an Overseas division:
- UK Bakery has manufacturing sites in Cardiff, Hamilton, East Kilbride, Salisbury, Sheffield, London and Manchester.
- Overseas division comprises the Company's 50% owned subsidiary, Lightbody-Stretz Ltd, which supplies and distributes the Group's UK manufactured products and third party products, primarily to Europe.