2nd Jul 2009 07:00
2 July 2009
Staff Options
Issue of Options to Staff
Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM / ASX: CFU) announces that on 30 June 2009 it issued 4,718,654 options over Ordinary Shares to staff under the CFCL Directors and Employee Benefits Plan ("Plan"). This represents approximately 0.4% of the Company's existing issued capital.
Under the Plan, approved by shareholders in November 2006, the Board offers options to staff as an important component of remuneration. In this tranche options were issued to 82 staff, including all senior managers, based on the Board's assessment of the Company's performance against agreed milestones over the 2009 financial year.
Of the total of 4,718,654 options issued, 3,266,720 options were issued to staff as a long term incentive. These options have a one year waiting period before they vest.
An additional 776,934 options were issued to staff as a short term incentive component of remuneration. There is no waiting period for these options.
In prior years short term incentives have been paid in cash. In the current market environment the Company believes it is prudent to conserve cash wherever possible and accordingly these options are issued in lieu of any cash bonus payments. For similar reasons there will be no general 'cost of living' salary increase for staff in the current remuneration review.
Finally, 675,000 options have been issued to Managing Director Brendan Dow for performance over the 2009 financial year. The issue of these options was approved by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting in November 2008.
For all options, the Exercise Price is A$0.175, which is equal to the average of CFCL's closing price on ASX during June 2009.
Adjusting the Exercise Price of Existing Options
CFCL has issued options to staff and directors under two plans: the 2004 Share Option Plan, and the Employee and Directors Benefits Plan (approved by shareholders in 2006).
Each plan provides for the exercise price of options to be adjusted after a rights issue, subject to the ASX Listing Rules. ASX Listing Rule 6.22.2 sets out a formula for reducing the exercise price of options to take into account the impact of a rights issue.
Applying this formula, the exercise price of options already on issue will be reduced by one cent. This change takes effect on 1 July 2009.
There are 12,649,160 options on issue, of which 6,005,330 are exercisable. Of the 12,649,160 options on issue, only 285,000 (or 2%) have an exercise price which is lower than the current share price.
Details of options on issue, including the revised Exercise Prices, are set out in the Form 3B filed with ASX today, and also available on the Company's website.
ENDS
For further information please contact:
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Ceramic Fuel Cells |
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Andrew Neilson |
Tel: +61 419 950 771 |
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Email: [email protected] |
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Nomura Code Securities |
Tel: +44 (0) 207 776 1200 |
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Juliet Thompson / Chris Golden |
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About Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited
Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited is a world leader in developing solid oxide fuel cell technology to provide highly efficient and low-emission electricity from widely available natural gas. The company is developing micro combined heat and power and distributed generation units that generate electricity and heat for homes and other buildings. Ceramic Fuel Cells is developing products with leading appliance partners and utility customers in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Japan. In May 2009 the company launched its BlueGen gas-to-electricity product. Headquartered in Melbourne, and with operations in the UK and Germany, Ceramic Fuel Cells is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market and the Australian Securities Exchange (code CFU).
www.cfcl.com.au
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