Employee Incentive Arrangemt

Impax Group PLC 17 January 2007 This announcement replaces the previous RNS announcement reference 6974P released at 16:02 on 17 January 07. Amendment was made to the heading from 'Employee Incentive Argreemnt' to 'Employee Incentive Arrangemt'. All other information remains unchanged. Impax Group plc ('Impax' or the 'Company') The Company has today issued a circular seeking shareholder approval to increase the number of Ordinary Shares, in respect of which awards may be made under the Impax Group Employee Benefit Trust 2005 ('EBT' or 'Incentive Arrangement'), to 24,250,000 Ordinary Shares. Background In January 2005 Shareholders approved the establishment by the Company of the Incentive Arrangement for the purposes, inter alia, of the grant of awards of Ordinary Shares to employees of the Group. The purpose of establishing the Incentive Arrangement was to motivate and incentivise eligible participants to achieve value for Shareholders. Under the Incentive Arrangement, as approved by Shareholders, the maximum number of Ordinary Shares that may be the subject of awards was limited to 18,250,000 Ordinary Shares. The remuneration committee is proposing that the limit on the maximum number of Ordinary Shares that may be the subject of awards under the Incentive Arrangement be increased to 24,250,000 Ordinary Shares. The Incentive Arrangement The Incentive Arrangement was implemented in 2005 by means of an employee benefit trust, known as the 'Impax Group Employee Benefit Trust 2005'. Full details of the Incentive Arrangement were set out in the circular to Shareholders dated 11 January 2005. The purpose of the Incentive Arrangement was and remains to motivate and incentivise eligible participants to achieve value for Shareholders. Under the Incentive Arrangement the Company issues new Ordinary Shares at nominal value to the trustee of the EBT for the purpose of making share awards to eligible participants. The trustee of the EBT funds the purchase of such Ordinary Shares by the sale of existing shares in the trust. Key employees (including executive directors) are eligible to participate in the Incentive Arrangement. The Incentive Arrangement, as approved by Shareholders, provided for awards of Ordinary Shares to be made in respect of the three financial years ending 30 September 2005, 30 September 2006 and 30 September 2007, each with demanding performance criteria: The First Period: Year ended 30 September 2005 For awards in respect of the financial year ended 30 September 2005, the Company performance target required that the average mid-market share price increased to at least 9.5 pence per share for the 60 business days following the announcement of the results for that financial year ending 30 September 2005 and that Total Shareholder Return over the year exceeded that of the FTSE All Share Index over the same period. The Second Period: Year ended 30 September 2006 For awards in respect of the financial year ended 30 September 2006, the Company performance target requires that the average mid-market share price increase to at least 12 pence per share for the 60 business days following the announcement of the results for that financial year and that Total Shareholder Return over the year exceeded that of the FTSE All Share Index over the same period. The Third Period: Year ending 30 September 2007 For awards in respect of the financial year ending 30 September 2007, the Company performance target requires that the average mid-market share price increases to at least 14 pence per share for the 60 business days following the announcement of the results for that financial year and that Total Shareholder Return over the year exceeds that of the FTSE All Share Index over the same period. On 4 February 2005, being the date on which the Incentive Arrangement was approved by Shareholders, the closing mid-market price of an Ordinary Share was 6.375p. Each award made under the Incentive Arrangement to an eligible participant is also subject to demanding targets in relation to his or her own performance. Such performance targets are determined by the remuneration committee of the Company taking into account the employee's position and role in the Group. The remuneration committee bases these targets on the Company's agreed business plan, with the individual components of achieving this plan assigned to the appropriate employees of the Group. In addition, generally any Ordinary Shares held by the trustees of the EBT for the benefit of the family of any employee revert to the EBT for distribution to other employees and their families if the employee leaves employment with the Group within 2 years of the end of the relevant period. For example, Ordinary Shares awarded in respect of the financial year ended 30 September 2005 will generally revert to the trustees of the EBT if the employee ceases to be employed by the Group before 30 September 2007. The trustee of the EBT currently holds 14,800,080 Ordinary Shares, representing 13.8% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company. Awards over 7,270,000 Ordinary Shares were made by the trustee of the EBT for the benefit of employees and their families in respect of the financial year ended 30 September 2005. The Company intends to make recommendations to the trustee of the EBT that awards over 7,610,080 Ordinary Shares be made for the benefit of employees and their families in respect of the financial year ended 30 September 2006, subject to the Company performance target relating to the financial year ended 30 September 2006, set out above, being satisfied. In addition, the EBT has sold 1,394,920 Ordinary Shares to fund the purchase of these Ordinary Shares leaving 1,975,000 out of a total of 18,250,000 Ordinary Shares available for allocation in the third performance period, i.e. the current financial year. Larger than anticipated awards have been recommended in these periods as a result of the following: - Since the EBT was originally put in place in February 2005, employees have significantly out-performed against the Company's business plan and performance targets. This out-performance is reflected in the Company's share price, which has averaged approximately 20 pence since 1 October 2006 (compared to a Company performance target of 12 pence for the second performance period which applies to the average mid-market share price for the 60 business days following the announcement of the Company's results for the year ended 30 September 2006, which was made on 11 December 2006). The Company's shares are currently trading at 21.75 pence. - As part of this out-performance, the Company has recruited more senior staff than had been expected, and there are therefore more individual beneficiaries of the EBT than had been envisaged in February 2005. Extension of Incentive Arrangement In order to be able to incentivise staff who are contributing significantly to the Company's further growth, the remuneration committee believes that it is necessary to top up the existing scheme in the current financial year. The remuneration committee is proposing that awards under the EBT of the additional 6,000,000 Ordinary Shares would be subject to a Company performance target requiring the average mid-market share price to increase to at least 24 pence per share for the 60 business days following the announcement of the results for the financial year ending 30 September 2007 and that Total Shareholder Return over the year exceeds that of the FTSE All Share Index over the same period. In addition, awards will only be made where employees have satisfied demanding targets in relation to his or her own performance, as explained above. The Company has not yet made any decisions to implement a new employee incentive scheme after September 2007 and will notify Shareholders of its intentions in due course. The award of Ordinary Shares under the Incentive Arrangement will impact distributable reserves. Ordinary Shares issued to the EBT are initially regarded for accounting purposes as not having totally left the Company's control and are accounted for as Treasury Shares. The allocation of the Ordinary Shares for the benefit of the family of a specific employee will result in a charge to the profit and loss account based on the mid market price of the Ordinary Shares at the 'grant date' as defined by FRS 20 'Share based payments' which is defined as the date of approval of the proposals. Full details of the accounting treatment can be found in Notes 19 and 32 of the Report and Accounts of the Company for the year ended 30 September 2006. Extraordinary General Meeting An extraordinary general meeting of the Company is being convened on 9 February 2007 for the purpose, inter alia, of considering a resolution to approve the increase in the number of Ordinary Shares that may be the subject of awards under the EBT and is set out at the end of this document. In addition to the resolution relating to the approval of the increase in the maximum number of Ordinary Shares in respect of which awards may be made under the EBT to 24,250,000 Ordinary Shares, special resolutions will be proposed at the Extraordinary General Meeting:- (a) granting an authority to the Directors pursuant to section 80 Companies Act 1985 to allot up to 6,000,000 Ordinary Shares to the trustee of the EBT for the purposes of the Incentive Arrangement; (b) disapplying the statutory pre-emption rights that would otherwise require such Ordinary Shares to be offered pro rata to all Shareholders; (c) approving the amendment of the Subscription Agreement between the Company and the trustee of the EBT for the purpose of making awards of the additional Ordinary Shares; and (d) approving the agreement pursuant to which the trustee of the EBT will grant to the Company the option to repurchase any of the increased number of Ordinary Shares which the trustee of the EBT does not hold for the benefit of the family of a specific employee as a result of the performance conditions not being satisfied. Recommendation The Directors believe that it is in the best interests of the Company and its Shareholders for the maximum number of Ordinary Shares which may be the subject of awards under the EBT to be increased to 24,250,000 Ordinary Shares and the Directors to be granted the authorities described in the document so as to permit the award of Ordinary Shares pursuant to the EBT. Accordingly, the Directors recommend Shareholders to vote in favour of the resolutions set out in the notice convening the Extraordinary General Meeting. In view of their potential interest in the EBT, Ian Simm, Nigel Taunt and Keith Falconer have undertaken to abstain from voting on the resolutions to be proposed at the Extraordinary General Meeting. For further information please contact Keith Falconer, Chairman Impax Group plc Copies of the circular may be obtained from the Company's registered office, Broughton House, 6-8 Sackville Street, London W1S 3DG This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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