Equals announces share incentive plan awards for employees
Payments solution provider Equals Group plc (LON:EQLS) has announced further awards under its Discretionary Share Incentive plans comprising the grant of Share Incentive Plan (‘SIP’) for all eligible employees of the Company concurrently with a discretionary Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘LTIP’) for senior employees and two executive directors.
In common with many businesses, the Group said it faces continued challenges to not only recruit but also retain high-quality talent across all its operations. Accordingly, the further following awards are being made under the SIP and LTIP as announced previously in October 2021.
Share Incentive Plan (‘SIP’)
In keeping with 2021 award, the Group will grant an award with a value equivalent to 4,000 new ordinary shares in the capital of the Company (‘Ordinary Shares’) to all 196 employees of the Group who have one year’s service or more as of 14 December 2022 (being the date of grant), in the form of a SIP Free Shares award. The valuation of the Ordinary Shares granted will be the market closing price on the dealing day prior to the award. There are no performance conditions and no purchase price. The award is subject to a three-year holding period in the SIP Trust. Staff who leave employment before the end of the holding period will lose their award, subject to certain limited ‘good leaver’ conditions.
Discretionary Long-Term Incentive Plan (‘LTIP’)
The LTIP, which was announced by the Group on 18 October 2021, detailed that grants were made for senior employees without performance conditions and that grants were also made to two executive directors with performance conditions.
The Group is now making further awards under this LTIP to 44 senior employees and two executive directors. All of these new awards will incorporate performance conditions.
The shares will vest on the third anniversary of the grant of the award, subject to the satisfaction of the pre-determined performance conditions and such vested shares will be subject to a two-year holding period thereafter. The total target award level is up to 3,182,500 Ordinary Shares. The exact award level will be determined on a sliding scale dependent on performance relative to CAGR targets for revenue and EPS, KPI’s for customer quality and ESG and the same minimum share price threshold as 2021 awards, being 80 pence. Participants who leave employment before vesting will lose their award, subject to certain limited ‘good leaver’ conditions.
Set out below is a table of grants under the Plan to certain Directors and persons discharging managerial responsibilities (‘PDMRs’).
PERSON | JOB TITLE | LTIP* | SIP | TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ian Strafford-Taylor | Chief Executive Officer | 637,500 | 4,000 | 641,500 |
Richard Cooper | Chief Financial Officer | 375,000 | 4,000 | 379,000 |
Jack Bryant | Director – Operations | 50,000 | 4,000 | 54,000 |
Matthijs Boon | Chief Operations Officer | 175,000 | 4,000 | 179,000 |
Simon England | Chief Infrastructure Officer | 175,000 | 4,000 | 179,000 |
Shona Kerfoot | Chief People Officer | 100,000 | 4,000 | 104,000 |
Darren Kilner | Director – Dealing | 100,000 | 4,000 | 104,000 |
Thomas Kiddle | Chief Commercial Officer | 200,000 | – | 200,000 |
Stephen Paul | Director – Finance | 80,000 | 4,000 | 84,000 |
Andrew Phillips | Chief Technology Officer | 175,000 | 4,000 | 179,000 |
James Simcox | Chief Product Officer | 200,000 | 4,000 | 204,000 |
Equals Group is a technology-led international payments group augmented by highly personalised service for the payment needs of SME’s whether these be FX, card payments or via Faster Payments. Founded in 2007, the Group listed on AIM in 2014 and currently employs around 285 staff across sites in London and Chester.