Kape Technologies PLC Issue of Share Awards (9861F)

TIDMKAPE

RNS Number : 9861F

Kape Technologies PLC

25 March 2022

25 March 2022

Kape Technologies plc

("Kape" or the "Company")

Issue of Share Awards

Kape (AIM: KAPE), the consumer security software business, announces that, further to the announcement of 22 March 2022, awards in respect of its ordinary shares of $0.0001 each ("Ordinary Shares") have been granted under the Company's 2014 Global Equity Plan ("Plan" and "Awards") to Ido Erlichman, Chief Executive Officer, and Oded Baskind, Chief Financial Officer (together the "Executives"):

 
 PDMR             Number of Ordinary Shares subject to 
                   Award 
 Ido Erlichman    3,400,000 
                 ------------------------------------- 
 Oded Baskind     600,000 
                 ------------------------------------- 
 

The Company's previous long term incentive award programme for executive directors expired at the end of 2020. Since that time, the Company has completed the major acquisitions of Webselenese and ExpressVPN, substantially increasing the Company's scale. More recently, Moran Laufer stepped down as CFO of the Company after five years in that role and Oded Baskind has been appointed as CFO in his place.

In light of the above, the Remuneration Committee has approved the Awards to incentivise the Executives to deliver long-term value creation for shareholders and ensure alignment with shareholder interests.

The Awards vest equally over a four year period from grant, subject to the achievement of certain performance metrics relating to the four financial years of the Company commencing 1 January 2022 ("Performance Period"), as set out below:

 
             SaaS Revenue     Adjusted EPS       G&A Target        Total Vesting 
                 Target          Target 
             50% of Award     25% of Award      25% of Award 
           ----------------  -------------  -------------------- 
                                                The adjusted 
                                                 G&A expenses 
                                               as a proportion 
                                                 of the total 
                                                  revenue of 
                                                 the Company 
                                                  is < 17.5% 
            70% of Company                    for each financial 
 FY 2022     revenues            $0.392              year               25% 
           ----------------  -------------  --------------------  -------------- 
            75% of Company 
 FY 2023     revenues            $0.446                                 25% 
           ----------------  -------------  --------------------  -------------- 
            80% of Company 
 FY 2024     revenues            $0.473                                 25% 
           ----------------  -------------                        -------------- 
            85% of Company 
 FY 2024     revenues            $0.497                                 25% 
           ----------------  -------------  --------------------  -------------- 
 

For the purposes of the above:

-- "SaaS Revenue" means revenues from customer contracts that will renew automatically at the end of their term unless actively terminated by the customer;

-- "Company revenues" means, in the context of SaaS Revenue as defined below, total revenue from Digital Security and Digital Privacy segments;

-- "Adjusted EPS" means the fully diluted adjusted Earnings Per Share of the Company (as presented in the annual accounts related to each financial year of the Performance Period); and

-- "G&A" means the general and administrative expenses after adjusting for one-off and non-recurring expenses of the Company (as presented in the annual accounts related to each financial year of the Performance Period).

Should the SaaS Revenue, Adjusted EPS or G&A expenses fail to meet these target levels in any of the financial years, the proportion of the Award for that financial year will be lost and will not be capable of vesting for the Executives.

The Awards will be granted in the form of Jointly Owned Equity Awards ("JOE Awards"). The Company will transfer 4,000,000 Ordinary Shares out of treasury to Intertrust Employee Benefit Trustee Limited ("Trustee") as trustee of the Kape Technologies plc Employee Benefit Trust ("EBT"), to be held jointly with the Executives in order to satisfy the proposed JOE Awards. Under the terms of the Awards, the Executives will benefit from the growth in value of their respective Award from the date of grant along with the right to acquire the Trustee's interest by way of a nil cost option in the event that the Awards vest.

All dividend and voting rights comprised in the JOE Awards are waived whilst jointly held by the relevant Executive and the Trustee of the EBT.

Related party transaction

The grant of the Awards is a related party transaction under Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. The Directors of the Company, excluding Ido Erlichman and Oded Baskind , consider, having consulted the Company's Nominated Adviser, Shore Capital & Corporate Limited, that the terms of the related party transaction are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.

Enquiries:

 
 Kape Technologies plc                                 via Vigo Consulting 
  Ido Erlichman, Chief Executive Officer 
  Oded Baskind, Chief Financial Officer 
 
   Shore Capital (Nominated Adviser & Broker) 
   Toby Gibbs / Mark Percy / James Thomas / Michael      [phone] 
   McGloin                                               4090 
 
   Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Joint Broker) 
   Alex Price / Brad Topchik / Alain Dobkin /            [phone] 
   Richard Short                                         7600 
 
   Vigo Consulting (Financial Public Relations) 
   Jeremy Garcia / Antonia Pollock/ Kendall Hill         [phone] 
   [e-mail]                               0237 
 

About Kape

Kape is a leading 'privacy-first' digital security software provider to consumers. Through its range of privacy and security products, Kape focusses on protecting consumers and their personal data as they go about their daily digital lives.

Kape has over 6.5 million paying subscribers, supported by a team of over 850 people across ten locations worldwide. Kape has a proven track record of revenue and EBITDA growth, underpinned by a strong business model which leverages our digital marketing expertise.

Through its subscription-based platform, Kape has fast established a highly scalable SaaS-based operating model, geared towards capitalising on the vast global consumer digital privacy market.

www.kape.com

   Twitter   LinkedIn 

Notification of Transactions of Directors / Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibility and Connected Persons

 
 1    Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities 
       / person closely associated 
 a)   Name                          Ido Erlichman 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 2    Reason for the notification 
     ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a)   Position/status               Chief Executive Officer 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 b)   Initial notification          Initial notification 
       /Amendment 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 3    Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, 
       auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor 
     ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a)   Name                          Kape Technologies plc 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 b)   LEI                           213800UWCIGKJD9U3T81 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 4    Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated 
       for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; 
       (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions 
       have been conducted 
     ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a)   Description of the 
       financial instrument,          Ordinary shares of US$0.0001 par 
       type of instrument             value in Kape Technologies plc 
 
       Identification code            IM00BQ8NYV14 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 b)   Nature of the transaction     Issue of nil cost awards under the 
                                     Company's 2014 Global Equity Plan 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 c)   Price(s) and volume(s)          Price(s)    Volume(s) 
                                       nil cost    3,400,000 
                                                  ---------- 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 d)   Aggregated information 
 
       - Aggregated volume            N/A (single transaction) 
       - Price 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 e)   Date of the transaction       24/03/22 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 f)   Place of the transaction      London Stock Exchange, AIM Market 
                                     (XLON) 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 
 
 1    Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities 
       / person closely associated 
 a)   Name                          Oded Baskind 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 2    Reason for the notification 
     ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a)   Position/status               Chief Financial Officer 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 b)   Initial notification          Initial notification 
       /Amendment 

     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 3    Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, 
       auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor 
     ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a)   Name                          Kape Technologies plc 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 b)   LEI                           213800UWCIGKJD9U3T81 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 4    Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated 
       for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; 
       (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions 
       have been conducted 
     ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 a)   Description of the 
       financial instrument,          Ordinary shares of US$0.0001 par 
       type of instrument             value in Kape Technologies plc 
 
       Identification code            IM00BQ8NYV14 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 b)   Nature of the transaction     Issue of nil cost awards under the 
                                     Company's 2014 Global Equity Plan 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 c)   Price(s) and volume(s)          Price(s)    Volume(s) 
                                       nil cost    600,000 
                                                  ---------- 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 d)   Aggregated information 
 
       - Aggregated volume            N/A (single transaction) 
       - Price 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 e)   Date of the transaction       24/03/22 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 f)   Place of the transaction      London Stock Exchange, AIM Market 
                                     (XLON) 
     ----------------------------  ------------------------------------- 
 

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March 25, 2022 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)