11th May 2006 14:17
Pearson PLC11 May 2006 PEARSON PLC (the "Company") Annual Bonus Share Matching Plan (the "Plan") On 11 May 2006, participants became entitled to ordinary shares in the Company("Shares") on maturity of their right to "matching shares" under the rules ofthe Plan (the "Rules"). Under the Plan, participants who invest their after-taxbonus in shares become entitled, without payment, to "matching shares" on aone-for-one basis if a corporate performance target is met over a five yearperiod. In relation to awards made on 11 May 2001, the five year performancetarget was met in 2006. Accordingly, under the Rules, participants are nowentitled to matching shares on a one-for-one basis. The pre-tax number of matching shares to which executive directors becameentitled is as follows:- Name of Director Number of Shares Marjorie Scardino 14,181David Bell 6,371John Makinson 9,553 The Rules require that sufficient shares are sold to discharge the PAYE incometax liability on the shares released. In consequence, the shares set out in thesecond column below were sold on 11 May 2006 at a price of 7.685p per share,leaving the after-tax number of shares set out in the final column below:- Name of Director Number of Shares Sold Number of Shares Retained Marjorie Scardino 5,815 8,366David Bell 2,613 3,758John Makinson 3,917 5,636 As a result, the executive directors named below are interested in the followingshares (excluding shares to which they may become entitled , subject tosatisfaction of any relevant conditions, under the Company's employee shareschemes):- Name of Director Number of Shares % of Issued Share Capital Marjorie Scardino 199,015 0.02474David Bell 111,316 0.01384John Makinson 160,987 0.02001 The shares required to satisfy these awards have been sourced from an employeebenefit trust established by the Company. Each executive director is deemed forCompanies Act purposes to be interested in all the shares held by the trust. Asa result of the release of shares described above, the number of shares held byMourant & Co Trustees Limited (as trustee of the Pearson plc Employee ShareOwnership Trust) is 1,694,323 shares (representing 0.2106% of the Company'sissued ordinary share capital). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Pearson