Directors Dealings

RNS Number : 0473Q

Rockhopper Exploration plc

09 October 2013

9 October 2013

ROCKHOPPER EXPLORATION PLC

("Rockhopper" or the 'Company')

Director Dealings

The Company announces that the following purchases of ordinary shares of £0.01 each in the Company ("Shares") were made by certain Directors on 8 October 2013.

Director	Price (pence)	Number of Shares purchased	Total number of shares held following purchases	% of issued share capital following purchases

Pierre Jungels	135.3	184,569	1,117,644	0.39 %
Sam Moody	135.3	378,741	1,543,128	0.54 %
Peter Dixon-Clarke	135.3	183,855	481,614	0.17 %
David McManus	135.3	36,772	132,803	0.05 %

Exercise of Share Appreciation Rights

Certain Directors have exercised Share Appreciation Rights ("SARs") over a total of 1,907,239 Shares that had been granted to them on 25 November 2008 and 3 July 2009 at a base price of 19.25 pence and 30.87 pence respectively being the market price at the time of grant. The SARs were granted under the terms of the Rockhopper Exploration PLC Employee Share Option Scheme ("ESOS"). The Remuneration Committee of the Company has exercised its discretion to settle the exercise of the SARs in cash and the relevant Directors elected to purchase the additional Shares disclosed above from the net proceeds, after meeting the cost of exercising the SARs and payment of the tax obligations arising therefrom.

Pierre Jungels (Chairman) exercised a total of 418,989 SARs on 7 October 2013. The notional gain on the exercise of SARs, after the discharging of tax obligations, was £250,917.

Sam Moody (CEO) exercised a total of 1,029,038 SARs on 7 October 2013. The notional gain on the exercise of SARs, after the discharging of tax and national insurance obligations, was £593,844.

Peter Dixon-Clarke (Finance Director) exercised a total of 459,212 SARs on 7 October 2013. The notional gain on the exercise of SARs, after the discharging of tax and national insurance obligations, was £265,005.

Long Term Incentive Plan

The Company announces that on 8 October 2013 certain Directors were granted awards in the form of options to acquire the number of Shares in the capital of the Company under the Company's Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) which was approved by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 26 September 2013 (the "AGM"). Details of the awards are shown below:

	Number of options under award

Sam Moody	508,007
Peter Dixon-Clark	357,542
Fiona MacAulay	312,849

The awards are structured as nil-cost options and will normally vest on 31 March 2016 subject to each director's continued employment. The percentage of awards which will vest will be dependent on total shareholder return measured against a peer group of companies over a three year period ending 31 March 2016. Performance measurement for these awards will be based on the Company's average share price over the 90 day dealing period to 31 March 2013 measured against the 90 day dealing period up to 31 March 2016. There is an additional performance target which requires that the Company's share price must exceed £1.80 over the 90 day dealing period to 31 March 2016 in order for these awards to vest. Once vested the awards will normally remain exercisable for a period of seven years subject to the rules of the LTIP regarding leavers.

A summary of the LTIP is included in the AGM notice which can be found on the Company's website.