Long Term Incentive Plan and Share Allocation

RNS Number : 8303O

EQTEC PLC

11 February 2021

 

11 February 2021

EQTEC plc

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

All Employee Long-term Incentive Plan and Allocation of Incentive Shares

EQTEC plc (AIM: EQT), a world leading gasification technology solutions company for sustainable waste-to-energy projects, announces the adoption of the EQTEC All Employee Long-term Incentive Plan (the "LTIP"), effective as of 11 February 2021.

The LTIP is a core part of the Company's new approach to business planning, performance management and employee incentives and is designed to drive individual and team performance in line with Company performance, thereby creating value for shareholders while minimising cash outlay. All Company Executive Directors and employees are eligible to participate in the LTIP.

Any awards made under the LTIP will comprise zero-cost share allocations ("Incentive Shares").  60% will vest providing the relevant individual is employed by the Company as of the vesting date, subject to no notice of termination, disciplinary proceedings or similar, and in the view of the Board, fulfilling his/her responsibilities to the highest possible standards.

The remaining 40% of Incentive Shares will vest provided the relevant individual has met the aforementioned employment conditions and, in addition, a Company-wide performance condition. The condition will be set annually by the Board against one or more of the Company's priority financial targets. In respect of these Company performance allocations, there will be a minimum or 'threshold' achievement that must be obtained to qualify, with a 'straight-line' calculation of award up to a maximum level.

Both types of Incentive Shares will be allocated annually and, subject to the above vesting conditions would vest over three years. For example, the 2021 share allocation would vest in three equal instalments on 1 May 2022, 1 May 2023 and 1 May 2024, following announcement of the Company's annual results.

All vested awards are subject to a lock-in period, whereby any new ordinary shares of €0.001 each issued ("Ordinary Shares") cannot be sold for two years from vesting for Directors and Heads of Function, or 12 months for all other employees.

Awards are further subject to certain malus and clawback provisions, at the Board's discretion.

On 11 February 2021, the Board approved the terms of the LTIP and the maximum allocation of 30,524,234 Incentive Shares at a price of 2.20p, representing a 5% premium on the closing, mid-market share price on 10 February 2021. 22,342,416 Incentive Shares have been newly allocated in aggregate for employees of the Company who are not Directors, with 8,181,818 Incentive Shares newly allocated in aggregate for Director, Jeffrey Vander Linden.

In addition, David Palumbo and Yoel Alemán, Directors of the Company, have agreed that the Company's obligation to issue them new Ordinary Shares pursuant to the subscription arrangements (the "Subscription Arrangements") announced by the Company on 9 July 2020 for the period 1 July 2020 - 30 June 2021 will be replaced by Incentive Shares, subject to the same vesting conditions as outlined above.  The maximum number of new Ordinary Shares that can be issued from these allocations on vesting would be 11,111,111 and 9,445,379 respectively, which is the same number of Ordinary Shares that would have been issued pursuant to the Subscription Arrangements, thereby creating no additional dilution on vesting and the potential for less dilution, should the vesting conditions not be achieved.

Going forward, all executive Directors and employees will be on standardised LTIP structures and the LTIP is the Company's sole, long-term incentive programme. There will be no further issues of warrants under the employee incentive warrant programme announced on 31 March 2020, whereby the Directors were issued with, in aggregate, 472,725,148 warrants to subscribe for new Ordinary Shares from a March 2020 warrant pool of 590,906,437. The Company has a total of 658,210,979 employee related warrants and options outstanding. 

Assuming the maximum number of new Ordinary Shares were issued pursuant to the Incentive Shares allocated today (being 51,080,724 new Ordinary Shares, albeit only 30,524,234 of these shares represent additional dilution, due to the cancellation of the Subscription Arrangements), the Company would have 709,291,703 employee-related dilutive instruments outstanding, representing 9.09% of the Company's then enlarged issued share capital. 

Ian Pearson, Chairman of EQTEC, commented:

"The implementation of EQTEC's All Employee Long-term Incentive Plan demonstrates the Company's commitment to attracting and retaining top talent who are invested in the long-term future of our business and in our role in Cleantech. This standardised framework for incentivising EQTEC's people is built on a new robust performance management framework that will drive common focus and individual excellence toward delivery of the business plan, aligning performance with enhancing value for our shareholders while minimising cash outlay. I view these approaches as additional support to EQTEC's platform for sustainable growth and performance in 2021 and for years to come."

ENQUIRIES

EQTEC plc	[phone]
David Palumbo / Gerry Madden
Strand Hanson - Nomad & Financial Adviser	[phone]
James Harris / James Dance / Jack Botros
Arden Partners - Broker	[phone]
Paul Shackleton (Corporate) / Simon Johnson (Sales)
Maitland/AMO - Communications & PR/IR adviser	[phone]
James Benjamin/Rhys Jones	[e-mail]

About EQTEC plc

EQTEC is a world leading gasification technology partner with proven proprietary patented technology for sustainable waste-to-value applications.

EQTEC designs and supplies advanced gasification solutions that have a higher efficiency product offering and are modular and scalable from 1MW to 25MW. EQTEC's versatile solutions are independently proven to process over 50 different types of feedstock, including municipal waste, agricultural waste, biomass and plastics with no hazardous waste or toxic emissions . EQTEC's solutions produce a uniquely pure high-quality synthesis gas (syngas), that is capable of being used for the widest applications in the creation of energy, hydrogen and biofuels.

EQTEC's proprietary technology design together with deployment and maintenance capabilities mitigate the risks when using third party equipment. EQTEC's Technology Integration capabilities enable the Group to lead collaborative ecosystems that build sustainable waste elimination and green energy infrastructure.

The Company is quoted on AIM (ticker: EQT) and the London Stock Exchange awarded EQTEC the Green Economy Mark that recognises listed companies with 50% or more of revenues from environmental/green solutions.

Further information on the Company can be found at www.eqtec.com .

 

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