Grant of Options

RNS Number : 8160N
Equals Group PLC
26 September 2019
 

Equals Group plc

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

Grant of Options

Equals, the e-banking and payments group, today announces that it has granted 1,750,000 options over ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the capital of the Company ("New Options") to the following persons discharging managerial responsibilities ("PDMR's"):

Name               

Position

New Options Granted

No. of options held prior to award

Total options held following grant

Ian Strafford-Taylor

 

Chief Executive Officer

750,000

4,268,000

5,018,000

Richard Cooper*

Group Finance Director

500,000

0

500,000

Ben Wynn

Chief Product and Marketing Officer

500,000

0

500,000

 

Appointment to the board of Equals effective from 14 October 2019.

The New Options give holders the right to subscribe for new ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the capital of the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at an exercise price of 101.1 pence per Ordinary Share. The options vest in 3 equal tranches after 1, 2 and 3 years from the date of grant subject to conditions relating to continued employment being satisfied. For Ian Strafford-Taylor and Ben Wynn, the date of grant is todays date whereas in the case of Richard Cooper this will be from 14th October 2019, the date at which he takes up his position. 

The Remuneration Committee of the Company are also in the process of establishing a Long-Term Incentive Plan (the "LTIP") which will retain and motivate key senior executives over the Company's next phase of development. The Remuneration Committee intend to consult with major shareholders the principal terms of the LTIP ahead of formally approving the plan.

Finally, as set out above, before the issue of New Options Mr Strafford-Taylor held an interest in 4,268,000 options over Ordinary Shares ("Existing Options"). A summary of the Existing Options held by Mr Strafford-Taylor is set out below

 

No. of Existing Options           

Exercise price

Date Granted

Date Expires

1,789,300

£0.36

22/07/2014

03/11/2019

1,535,750

£0.36

28/07/2014

03/11/2019

192,950

£0.22

22/07/2014

03/11/2019

750,000

£0.30

28/09/2016

27/09/2026

 

In addition, Dr Jules Bean, The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Equals Group, holds Existing Options as per the summary below

 

No. of Existing Options           

Exercise price

Date Granted

Date Expires

200,000

£0.07

22/07/2014

03/11/2019

254,800

£0.22

22/07/2014

03/11/2019

400,000

£0.36

28/07/2014

03/11/2019

50,000

£0.30

28/09/2016

27/09/2026

 

3,518,000 Existing Options held by Mr Strafford-Taylor and 854,800 Existing Options held by Dr Bean expire on 03/11/2019. The Remuneration Committee has agreed to extend the expiry date of the total of 4,372,800 Existing Options to 03/11/2022.

The following disclosures are made in accordance with Article 19 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014.

1

Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated

a)

Name

Ian Strafford Taylor

2

Reason for the notification

a)

Position/status

Chief Executive Officer

b)

Initial notification /Amendment  

Initial

3

Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor

a)

Name

Equals plc

b)

LEI

213800CPI5S2GYB3RI27

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 

 

Ordinary shares of 1p each

ISIN:      GB00BLS0XX25

b)

Nature of the transaction

Grant of options over new ordinary shares at an exercise price of 101.1p per share

 

c)

 

Price(s) and volume(s)

 

 

Price(s)

Volume(s)

£Nil 

750,000

  

d)

 

Aggregated information

- Aggregated volume

 - Price

 

N/A - single transaction

e)

 

Date of the transactions

26 September 2019

f)

 

Place of the transactions

Outside a trading venue

 

1

Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated

a)

Name

Richard Cooper

2

Reason for the notification

a)

Position/status

Chief Financial Officer (appointment effective from 14 October 2019)

b)

Initial notification /Amendment  

Initial

3

Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor

a)

Name

Equals plc

b)

LEI

213800CPI5S2GYB3RI27

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 

 

Ordinary shares of 1p each

ISIN:      GB00BLS0XX25

b)

Nature of the transaction

Grant of options over new ordinary shares at an exercise price of 101.1p per share

 

c)

 

Price(s) and volume(s)

 

 

Price(s)

Volume(s)

£Nil 

500,000

  

d)

 

Aggregated information

- Aggregated volume

 - Price

 

N/A - single transaction

e)

 

Date of the transactions

26 September 2019

f)

 

Place of the transactions

Outside a trading venue

 

1

Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated

a)

Name

Ben Wynn

2

Reason for the notification

a)

Position/status

Chief Product and Marketing Officer

b)

Initial notification /Amendment  

Initial

3

Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor

a)

Name

Equals plc

b)

LEI

213800CPI5S2GYB3RI27

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 

 

Ordinary shares of 1p each

ISIN:      GB00BLS0XX25

b)

Nature of the transaction

Grant of options over new ordinary shares at an exercise price of 101.1p per share

 

c)

 

Price(s) and volume(s)

 

 

Price(s)

Volume(s)

£Nil 

500,000

  

d)

 

Aggregated information

- Aggregated volume

 - Price

 

N/A - single transaction

e)

 

Date of the transactions

26 September 2019

f)

 

Place of the transactions

Outside a trading venue

 

Contact:

 

Equals Group plc

Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO

 

+44 (0) 20 7778 9308

Cenkos Securities plc

Max Hartley/Callum Davidson

Nick Searle

 

+44 (0) 20 7397 8900

Canaccord Genuity

Bobbie Hilliam / David Tyrrell

Alex Aylen

 

+44 (0)20 7523 8150

Yellow Jersey                         

Charles Goodwin

Joe Burgess

Annabel Atkins

 

 

+44 (0) 7747 788 221

+44 (0) 7946 424 651

 

 

About Equals

 

Equals is a leading challenger brand in banking and payments that disintermediates the incumbent banks with a superior user experience and low-cost operating model. Our business enables personal and business customers to make easy, low-cost payments both domestically and in a broad range of currencies and across a range of products all via one integrated system. The Equals platform facilitates payments either direct to Bank Accounts or at 35 million merchants and over 1 million ATM's in a broad range of countries globally via Mobile apps, the Internet, SMS, wire transfer and MasterCard/VISA debit cards.

Equals provides money movement services to both personal and business customers through four channels: Currency Cards, Physical Currency, International Payments and Bank Accounts. The Currency Card and Physical Currency offerings facilitate multiple overseas payments at points of sale and ATM's whereas the International Payments channel supports wire transfer foreign exchange transactions direct to Bank Accounts. For Corporates, Equals has a market-leading business-expenses solution based around its corporate platform and prepaid card. This service can yield significant savings on a Corporate's expenses and procurement both domestically and overseas, through better controls and improved transparency. The platform also streamlines the downstream administrative processes and integrates into accounting software, thus saving costs. Equals offers retail and business bank accounts with all the functionality you would expect from a bank, namely faster payments, BACs, direct debits, international payments and a debit card.

 

 

 

 


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