Emmerson PLC / Ticker: EML / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

22 July 2022

Emmerson PLC ("Emmerson" or the "Company")

Approval of Employee Share Option Scheme, Grant of Share Options and Allotment of Shares to Directors/PDMRs

Emmerson, which is developing the world class Khemisset Potash Project in Morocco, is pleased to make the following announcements:

Approval of Employee Share Option scheme

As part of ongoing enhancements to corporate governance and remuneration, the Company yesterday adopted an Employee Share Option scheme. This scheme provides a framework for the award of future share options to eligible employees, and will include awards to be made, where appropriate, under the HMRC-approved Enterprise Management Incentive scheme.

Award of Share Options

On 21 July 2022, 6,013,000 share options were granted to employees and eligible contractors, including the CEO Graham Clarke (a PDMR) at an exercise price of 7 pence per share (the mid-market close price at the day prior to the award) as per the following table:

These awards were made in recognition of performance during 2021. Following these awards, Graham Clarke holds 19,321,000 share options.

Allotment of New Ordinary Shares to Directors

As part of their remuneration package as Non-executive Directors, Rupert Joy and James Kelly are entitled to receive shares to the value of £10,000 and £20,000 respectively each year, based on the 10-day VWAP prior to the date of allotment, and pro rated since their dates of appointment in 2021. Accordingly, 66,371 new ordinary shares will be allotted to Rupert Joy and 218,406 new ordinary shares to James Kelly.  

The Company has applied for the 284,777 new shares to be admitted for trading on the AIM Market and admission is expected to take place on 27 July 2022.

Following this allotment, the total number of shares in issue will be 916,080,771.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.emmersonplc.com, follow us on Twitter (@emmerson_plc), or contact:

Notes to Editors

Emmerson is focused on advancing the Khemisset project ("Khemisset" or the "Project") in Morocco into a low cost, high margin supplier of potash, and the first primary producer on the African continent.  With an initial 19-year life of mine, the development of Khemisset is expected to deliver long-term investment and financial contributions to Morocco including the creation of permanent employment, taxation and a plethora of ancillary benefits.  As a UK-Moroccan partnership, the Company is committed to bringing in significant international investment over the life of the mine.

Morocco is widely recognised as one of the leading phosphate producers globally, ranking third in the world in terms of tonnes produced annually, and the development of this mine is set to consolidate its position as the most important fertiliser producer in Africa. The Project has a large JORC Resource Estimate (2012) of 537Mt @ 9.24% K2O, with significant exploration potential, and is perfectly located to support the expected growth of African fertiliser consumption whilst also being located on the doorstep of European markets. The need to feed the world's rapidly increasing population is driving demand for potash and Khemisset is well placed to benefit from the opportunities this presents. The Feasibility Study released in June 2020 indicated the Project has the potential to be among the lowest capital cost development stage potash projects in the world and also, as a result of its location, one of the highest margin projects. This delivered outstanding economics, including a post-tax NPV8 of approximately US$1.4 billion using industry expert Argus' price forecasts, and the spot price for granular MOP fertiliser has since risen, further enhancing the valuations.