STP.L Regulatory News (STP)

26 Aug 2008 07:00



26 August 2008

SPIRITEL PLC

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

ADOPTION OF NEW LONG TERM INCENTIVE PLAN

Cancellation of all existing options arrangements for participating executive directors and senior managers

The Board of SpiriTel plc (AIM:STP) announces that, following the recommendation of the Company's remuneration committee (the 'Remuneration Committee') and the guidance of its remuneration advisers, Halliwell Consulting, the Board has approved and introduced a new Long Term Incentive Plan ('LTIP') for the executive directors and certain senior managers ("the Participants") of the Company.

The new LTIP replaces all existing share option arrangements for the Participants and as a result, their collective outstanding options over a total of 47,845,939 ordinary shares in SpiriTel, representing 8.6% of the current issued ordinary share capital, will be cancelled immediately.

Upon demanding levels of shareholder value being realised, the management team will be entitled to receive an amount equivalent to a maximum of 16% of the aggregate of the issued equity and convertible equity value. 

Commenting on the award, Lord St John of Bletso, Chairman of SpiriTel's Remuneration Committee said: "The Board concluded that the existing remuneration structures no longer appropriately incentivised SpiriTel's executive directors and senior managers, whom the Board believes are the key creators of long-term shareholder value. Accordingly, the Board has today implemented a plan which we believe aligns the interests of the senior management team as closely as possible with those of the Company's shareholders." 

For further information please visit www.SpiriTelplc.com or contact:

Notes to Editors

SpiriTel is a fully integrated business communications group which enables its customers to take advantage of the opportunities created by rapidly changing telecoms markets as the migration to Internet Protocol (IP) based services accelerates. The Group is a consolidator of the highly fragmented UK telecoms reseller market and is building a substantial customer base and scale through selective acquisitions. We are organised into two divisions: SpiriTel Technologies, which focuses on IP networking and wholesale voice services; and SpiriTel Business, which provides a full range of voice and data services directly to our Business customers. 

SpiriTel offers fixed and mobile voice and data communications solutions including Voice over IP (VoIP), data networking, telephone systems and ISP services to a rapidly expanding customer base. We are a leader in the provision of new, but proven, Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions that are firmly based on the old-fashioned service values which run throughout the Group.