5 Dec 2023 10:15
5 December 2023
Hotel Chocolat Group plc
("Hotel Chocolat", the "Company" or the "Group")
Director/PDMR Dealing - Grant of Options
The Company announces that on 4 December 2023 it granted an option over 416,667 ordinary shares of 0.1p in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") that it was contractually committed to grant to Chief Financial Officer, Jon Akehurst, who is a director and PDMR of the Company (the "Option"). The Option was granted pursuant to the Hotel Chocolat Group plc 2016 Long Term Incentive Plan (the "Plan").
In the normal course, the Option would have been granted following publication of the Group's FY2023 preliminary results. However, the Company was in a closed period at that time due to the existence of inside information about the recommended cash acquisition of the Company by Hive Bidco, Inc, which was announced on 16 November 2023. Accordingly, as agreed with Hive Bidco, Inc., the award of the Option to the Chief Financial Officer, together with the award of Options over a further 152,000 Ordinary Shares to other senior managers who were internally promoted or recruited into the Group in recent months, has now been made following that announcement.
The Option has been granted subject to the same performance conditions as apply to the 2021 LTIP awards described in the Company's Annual Report and Accounts 2023 but, subject to the scheme of arrangement by which the proposed acquisition of the Company will be effected becoming unconditional, will vest and become exercisable in full at that time.
The Option has an exercise price of 0.1 pence per Ordinary Share and is subject to the Rules of the Plan.
Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them
1
| Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
| |||||
a)
| Name
| Jonathan Akehurst | ||||
2
| Reason for the notification
| |||||
a)
| Position/status
| Chief Financial Officer | ||||
b)
| Initial notification /Amendment
| Initial Notification | ||||
3
| Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
| |||||
a)
| Name
| Hotel Chocolat Group plc | ||||
b)
| LEI
| 213800B4D3J15PZHVY29
| ||||
4
| Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted | |||||
a)
| Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument
Identification code
|
Option over Ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each
ISIN: GB00BYZC3B04 | ||||
b)
| Nature of the transaction
| Grant of option pursuant to the Hotel Chocolat Group plc 2016 Long Term Incentive Plan | ||||
c)
| Price(s) and volume(s)
|
| ||||
d)
| Aggregated information
- Aggregated volume - Price |
N/A
| ||||
e)
| Date of the transaction
| 2023-12-04 | ||||
f)
| Place of the transaction
| Outside a trading venue | ||||
For further information:
Hotel Chocolat Group plc | c/o Citigate + 44 (0) 20 7638 9571 |
Angus Thirlwell, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer | |
Jon Akehurst, Chief Financial Officer | |
Liberum Capital Limited - Nominated Adviser and Broker | + 44 (0) 20 3100 2222 |
Dru Danford | |
Edward Thomas | |
Miquela Bezuidenhoudt | |
Citigate Dewe Rogerson - Financial PR | + 44 (0) 20 7638 9571 |
Angharad Couch | |
Ellen Wilton | |
Alex Winch |
In accordance with Rule 26.1 of the Takeover Code, a copy of this announcement will be available, subject to certain restrictions relating to persons resident in restricted jurisdictions, on Hotel Chocolat's website at https://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/investor-relations-offer.html by no later than 12 noon (London time) on the business day following the date of this announcement. The content of the website referred to in this announcement is not incorporated into and does not form part of this announcement.
Notes to Editors:
Hotel Chocolat is a premium British chocolate maker with a strong and distinctive D2C brand. The business was founded by Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris, who are still executives within the business, and has traded under the Hotel Chocolat brand since 2003. The Group is unusual in being a grower (organic cacao farm in Saint Lucia), a manufacturer (Cambridgeshire) and owning its extensive direct to consumer channels (branded stores, websites). The Group was admitted to trading on AIM in 2016.