STP.L Regulatory News (STP)

21 Jul 2006 12:27

Spiritel PLC21 July 2006 21 July 2006 SPIRITEL PLC("Spiritel" or "the Company") Issue of equity and grant of share options Spiritel plc (AIM: STP), the telecommunications services business, is pleased toannounce the following issues of equity and grants of options over ordinaryshares of 1p each in the Company ("Shares"): Lord St John of Bletso, non-executive Chairman, has chosen to receive settlementin respect of Director's fees amounting to £20,000 through the issue to him of533,333 new Shares, each with a deemed value of 3.75 pence, being the mid-marketclosing price per share on 19 July 2006. Following this transaction Lord St Johnof Bletso will hold an aggregate of 683,333 Shares in the Company, being 0.4percent of the enlarged issued ordinary share capital. He also holds optionsover 285,714 Shares. Mark Willard, non-executive Director, has opted to accept settlement in respectof compensation for loss of office amounting to £65,600 through the issue to himof 1,749,333 new Shares, each with a deemed value of 3.75 pence. Mark Willard'smove from executive to non-executive status was previously announced on 6 April2006. Following this transaction, Mark Willard will hold an aggregate of16,927,457 Shares in the Company, being 10.1 percent of the enlarged issuedordinary share capital. He also holds options over 773,633 Shares. Application has been made for the 533,333 new Shares issued to Lord St John ofBletso and the 1,749,333 Shares issued to Mark Willard to be admitted to tradingon AIM . These Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Shares and dealingsare expected to commence on 29 July 2006. The enlarged issued ordinary sharecapital of the Company following this application is 167,688,676 Shares. In addition, Alastair Mills, Chief Executive Officer, has been awarded a grantof options over 2,000,000 Shares at an exercise price of 5 pence per Share underthe Company's EMI Scheme. As a result, existing grants of options over 342,858Shares will be cancelled. Following these transactions, Alastair Mills willhold, in addition to this new grant, options over 3,571,428 Shares at anexercise price of 7 pence per share. He is not currently the holder of anyequity of the Company. Awards of options have also been granted to employees of Spiritel groupcompanies in an aggregate over 7,250,000 Shares under the Company's EMI Scheme,each with an exercise price of 5 pence per Share. As a result, existing grantsof options over 171,430 Shares will be cancelled. Following these transactions, the Company will have outstanding options over14,841,550 Shares, representing 8.9 percent of the enlarged issued ordinaryshare capital. Alastair Mills, Spiritel's Chief Executive, commented: " I am delighted thatboth our Chairman and Mark Willard have elected to receive shares in lieu ofcash as it underlines their confidence in the Company's prospects. I am alsopleased that the Company has been able to reward and incentivise the employeegroup through granting options under the Company's EMI Scheme" For further information: Spiritel plc 020 7160 0100Alastair Mills, Chief Executive Teather & Greenwood 020 7426 9000Jeff Keating Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Mark CourtMary-Jane Johnson Notes for Editors: About Spiritel plc Spiritel plc (AIM: STP) is a telecommunications services and products companythat joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in July 2004. Itsservices include call termination and in addition it has developed a suite ofleading-edge VoIP products, positioning the Company to benefit from themigration from traditional telephony to VoIP services. For further information please visit www.spiritelplc.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange