Grant of Share Options

RNS Number : 4726J

Gfinity PLC

14 April 2020

 

14 April 2020

Gfinity PLC

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

Grant of Share Options

Gfinity (AIM: GFIN), a leading eSports business, announces that it has today awarded a total of 41,300,000 options over ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") to employees and certain Directors (the "New Options"). These options were granted under the Company's approved and unapproved share option schemes (the "Schemes") and replace all options which those employees and Directors previously held, which have been cancelled.

Like most companies, Gfinity is having to navigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and difficult working conditions, and along with the recent Company changes and cost-cutting announced on 16 March 2020 (which included salary cuts for many employees and Directors, whilst also taking on extra responsibilities with a reduced team), the Board is focussed more than ever on ensuring employees remain motivated and incentivised.  Accordingly, they are looking to the New Options to help achieve this, whilst also helping to conserve cash resources. Since 9 October 2018, the Ordinary Share price has been below 10.3p, being the average exercise price of the incumbent options held by employees and Directors. As a result, those options were not viewed as achievable to many staff, meaning that they do not represent a meaningful performance incentive, and therefore have been cancelled.  The Remuneration Committee of the independent non-executive Directors consider these proposals to be in the best interests of the Company and shareholders as a whole.

The New Options are exercisable at 1p per share (the "Exercise Price"), being the issue price determined for the recent placing of New Ordinary Shares announced on 3 April 2020 (the "Placing").

Of the New Options, 18,000,000 are being granted to certain Directors as follows:

		OLD OPTIONS			NEW OPTIONS
Director	Role	No. of options cancelled	Average exercise price	% issued share capital post Placing	No. of new options	% issued share capital post Placing
Neville Upton	Chairman	7,870,670	12p	1.1%	5,000,000	0.71%
John Clarke	CEO	3,000,000	12p	0.4%	8,000,000	1.14%
Jon Hall	CFO & COO	1,548,571	12p	0.2%	5,000,000	0.71%
		12,419,241		1.8%	18,000,000	2.55%

The New Options granted to the above Directors become exercisable in three tranches as follows (which is the same basis as the old options, save that the old options did not have share price targets):

i)           one third on grant;

ii)        one third after one year if the Ordinary Share price reaches 2p or more for 30 consecutive business days at any point during the option life; and

iii)      one third after two years if the Ordinary Share price reaches 3p or more for 30 consecutive business days at any point during the option life.

The New Options expire on 8 April 2030 if not exercised.

Following the grant of the New Options, the total number of options over Ordinary Shares outstanding is 69,896,734, representing 9.92 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital on completion of the Placing.

Further details and the information required in accordance with the requirements of Article 19(3) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014 are set out at the end of this announcement.

Enquiries

John Clarke, Gfinity	[e-mail]
Jeremy Porter, Allenby Capital (Broker and Nominated Adviser)	[phone]
Camilla Cunningham, Teneo (media)	[phone]

About Gfinity

Gfinity is a world leading esports business. Created by gamers for the world's 2.2 billion gamers, Gfinity has a unique understanding of this fast-growing global community.  It uses this expertise to provide both advisory services and to design, develop and deliver unparalleled experiences and winning strategies for game publishers, sports rights holders, commercial partners and media companies.

Gfinity connects its partners with the esports community in authentic and innovative ways. This consists of on and off-line competitions and industry leading content production. Partnerships include EA SPORTS, Activision Blizzard, F1 Esports Series and the Forza Racing Championship.

Gfinity connects directly with competitive gaming consumers through its growing community of gamers and its owned competition platform, the "Gfinity Elite Series".

All Gfinity services are underpinned by the Company's proprietary technology platform delivering a level playing field for all competitors and supporting scalable multi-format leagues, ladders and knock out competitions.

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Neville Upton
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Chairman
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Gfinity plc
b)	LEI	213800GNV14EDQNRWI17
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	Options over ordinary shares of 0.1p each in Gfinity plc Identification code (ISIN) for Gfinity plc ordinary shares: GB00BT9QD572
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of share options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 1p 5,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A
e)	Date of the transactions	14 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	John Clarke
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Chief Executive Officer
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Gfinity plc
b)	LEI	213800GNV14EDQNRWI17
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	Options over ordinary shares of 0.1p each in Gfinity plc Identification code (ISIN) for Gfinity plc ordinary shares: GB00BT9QD572
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of share options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 1p 8,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A
e)	Date of the transactions	14 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Jonathan Hall
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Chief Finance and Operations Officer
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Gfinity plc
b)	LEI	213800GNV14EDQNRWI17
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	Options over ordinary shares of 0.1p each in Gfinity plc Identification code (ISIN) for Gfinity plc ordinary shares: GB00BT9QD572
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of share options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 1p 5,000,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A
e)	Date of the transactions	14 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM

The information set out in this announcement is provided in accordance with the requirements of Article 19(3) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014.

 

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