Long-Term Incentive Plan

RNS Number : 6356W

Equals Group PLC

20 August 2020

 

For immediate release

20 August 2020

Equals Group plc

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

Long-Term Incentive Plan

Equals (AIM:EQLS) , the fast-growing B2B focused e-banking and international payments group, announces that it has today granted options over ordinary shares in the Company to its Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer under a new Long-Term Incentive Plan ('LTIP').  These initial awards recognise each of their roles in developing and implementing the Company's strategic plans and are designed to incentivise them appropriately.

This new LTIP follows on from the announcement issued by the Company on 26 September 2019, which detailed the process of establishing a LTIP which would retain and motivate key senior executives over the Group's next phase of development.  The initial grant is for a total of 3,000,000 share options, although, the remuneration committee has agreed that 1,250,000 options granted to both executive directors on 26 September 2019 at an exercise price of £1.01 per share will be cancelled and in their place the following options are granted under the new LTIP:

Name	Position	Number of shares subject to awards
Ian Strafford -Taylor	Chief Executive Officer	2,000,000
Richard Cooper	Chief Financial Officer	1,000,000

The awards will be subject to a combination of the following performance conditions: cash resilience, growth of both revenue and profits, and the maintenance of compliance and risk components.

The options will vest over three years in equal installments triggered on the date the audited annual results have been approved, with the first tranche not vesting until the audited results for 2020 have been released.

The options have a £nil strike price but their exercise is subject to the Company's prevailing share price being equal to or in excess of £0.40p at the time of exercise.

In addition, Robert Head, non-executive director and Chairman of the Audit Committee has agreed to surrender for £nil consideration, 133,333 share options granted at an exercise price of 30 pence per share.

John Pearson, non-executive director has agreed to surrender 120,000 share options granted at £1.16 and a further 120,000 granted at £1.74.

After the LTIP option awards and the surrender of other options as above, the number of ordinary shares under option will be 9,598,358. The total number of shares in issue currently is 178,602,918, thus the fully diluted share capital will be 188,201,276 ordinary shares of which the share options would represent 5.1%

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 Group 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
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) £Nil  2,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A - single transaction
e)	Date of the transactions	20 August 2020
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
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Equals Group 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
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) £Nil 1,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A - single transaction
e)	Date of the transactions	20 August 2020
f)	Place of the transactions	Outside a trading venue

- Ends -

For more information, please contact:

Equals Group plc
Alan Hughes, Non-Executive Chairman Tony Quirke, Company Secretary	Tel: [phone] www.equalsplc.com
Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Advisor / Joint Broker)
Max Hartley / Callum Davidson Nick Searle (Sales)	Tel: [phone]
Canaccord Genuity (Joint Broker)
Bobbie Hilliam / David Tyrell Alex Aylen (Sales)	Tel: [phone]
Buchanan (Financial Communications)
Henry Harrison-Topham / Steph Watson / Toto Berger [e-mail]	Tel: [phone] www.buchanan.uk.com

Notes to Editors:

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.  The Group enables its personal and business customers to make easy, low-cost payments both domestically and in a broad range of currencies across a range of products all via one integrated system.

Equals provides money movement services to both business and personal customers through five inter-connected channels - International Payments, Corporate Expenses platform, Bank Accounts, Travel Money (comprising currency cards and physical currency).  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 which yields significant cost savings via tighter control on expenses before they are incurred coupled with eliminating inefficient processes.  Equals also offers business and retail bank accounts with all the functionality offered by banks, namely faster payments, BACs, direct debits, international payments and a debit card.  The Travel Money offerings (retail currency card and physical currency) represent cost-effective and secure methods for travelers to spend abroad.

 

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