Directors' Interest in Shares and Share Options

RNS Number : 5874G

Oxford Biomedica PLC

02 July 2012

 

For immediate release

2 July 2012

OXFORD BIOMEDICA plc

Directors' Interest in Shares and Share Options

Oxford, UK - 2 July 2012: Oxford BioMedica plc ("Oxford BioMedica" or "the Company") (LSE:OXB), the leading gene-based biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the following awards under the Oxford BioMedica Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) were made to four Directors on 30 June 2012:

	LTIP: number of shares awarded	Total shares over which options are held (note 1)	Percentage of issued shares under option
John Dawson	6,600,000	10,996,000	1.16%
Stuart Naylor	3,760,000	5,745,750	0.61%
Peter Nolan	3,480,000	5,419,000	0.57%
Tim Watts	6,000,000	6,000,000	0.64%

Notes:

1.     The total shares over which options are held including the awards described above (share options were granted to Directors up to September 2006 and LTIPs have been awarded since March 2007).

The baseline share price on which the LTIP awards have been calculated was 2.50p, being the price used for the firm placing and open offer announced on 29 June 2012. The awards are nominal cost options and are subject to a three year holding period. They are exercisable from the third anniversary of the award, subject to the satisfaction of a performance condition.

The performance metric is Absolute Total Shareholder Return (TSR).  This is a change from previous LTIP awards for which the performance condition was based on relative TSR compared with a peer group under which options could vest despite a decline in the share price.  The new awards will only vest if TSR growth is achieved over the period of the award. Since the Company is unlikely to pay a dividend in the foreseeable future, TSR growth is essentially represented by the share price.  By rewarding growth in TSR, the plan will ensure that pay-outs are only achieved if significant returns are made to shareholders through share price appreciation. The vesting schedule is as follows:

	TSR growth over 3 year period	% of award vesting
Below threshold	<100% (i.e. <2 times baseline share price)	0%
Threshold*	100% (i.e. =2 times baseline share price)	25%
Upper level*	200% (i.e. =3.0 times baseline share price)	100%

*Straight line vesting between these points

The targets will be adjusted in the event of any dilution of the share capital to reflect the returns achieved by investors.  Although no award can be exercised until the end of the three year vesting period, directors will be able to "bank" a fraction of the appropriate vesting percentage on each anniversary of the date of grant, should the target have been met at those dates. This will be limited to 25% of the potential vesting amount after one year, 50% after two years and 100% after three years. Banked awards will not actually vest until the third anniversary of award.

Tim Watts

Company Secretary,

Oxford BioMedica plc

2 July 2012

Oxford BioMedica plc

Oxford BioMedica plc (LSE: OXB) is a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative gene-based medicines and therapeutic vaccines that aim to improve the lives of patients with high unmet medical needs. The Company's technology platform includes a highly efficient LentiVector^® gene delivery system, which has specific advantages for targeting diseases of the central nervous system and the eye; and a unique tumour antigen (5T4), which is an ideal target for anti-cancer therapy. Through in-house and collaborative research, Oxford BioMedica has a broad pipeline with current partners and licensees including Sanofi, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, MolMed, Sigma-Aldrich, Biogen Idec, Emergent BioSolutions and ImaginAb. Further information is available at www.oxfordbiomedica.co.uk.

 

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