Appointment of Sales Director and Grant of Options

The information communicated within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

28 January 2020

 

Surface Transforms plc

 

("Surface Transforms" or the "Company")

 

Appointment of Sales Director and Grant of Options

 

Surface Transforms plc (AIM: SCE), manufacturer of carbon fibre reinforced ceramic brake discs, announces that it has appointed Leigh Welch as Sales Director (non Board) reporting directly to Kevin Johnson, CEO of the Company.  Leigh has more than 20 years experience of sales roles in the automotive industry and joins Surface Transforms from Delphi Technologies where he held the role of Global Account Manager in the diesel fuel systems business. Previously, Leigh had been Sales Director of the Robert Bosch braking division based in Paris responsible for a product range that included calipers, brake discs and brake sytem components.

 

The Company has granted options over 210,000 new ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") under its existing share option scheme (the "Options") to Leigh Welch.  The Options are exercisable at a price of 26.0 pence per share being the closing price on 27 January 2020.

 

The vesting of the Options is conditional on the continued employment of the option holder as well as the satisfaction of certain financial and non-financial performance conditions. The Options will vest in one-third tranches; the Company achieving sales of over £5m in a financial year, winning additional contracts that, together with existing contracts, fills OEM cell one capacity and widening the customer base beyond those customers with whom the Company currently has continuing or recent contractual relationships.

 

Kevin Johnson (CEO) said: "it is a pleasure to welcome Leigh to the Company. His general automotive sales experience and, more particularly, his experience in brake system components will be invaluable in our current sales campaigns with a number of automotive OEMs. We look forward to working with him."

 

For enquiries, please contact:

 

Surface Transforms plc                                                                       +44 151 356 2141

 

Kevin Johnson, CEO

Michael Cunningham, CFO

David Bundred, Chairman

 

Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (Nomad & Joint Broker)                               +44 20 7894 7000

 

David Foreman/ Michael Boot (Corporate Finance)

Caspar Shand Kydd/Maisie Atkinson (Sales)

 

finnCap Ltd (Joint Broker)                                                                   +44 20 7220 0500

 

Ed Frisby/Giles Rolls (Corporate Finance)

Richard Chambers (ECM)

 

This announcement has been released by Kevin Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, on behalf of the Company.

 

For further Company details, visit www.surfacetransforms.com.

 

 

The notification below, made in accordance with the requirements of the EU Market Abuse Regulations, provides further detail in respect of the transaction as described above.

 

Notification of a Transaction pursuant to Article 19(1) of Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014
1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated
a.	Name	Leigh Welch
2	Reason for notification
a.	Position/Status	PDMR Sales Director
b.	Initial notification/ Amendment	Initial Notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a.	Name	Surface Transforms plc
b.	LEI	213800GQHNJPE5O8XO79
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, type of instrument Identification Code	Options over ordinary shares of 1p each ISIN: GB0002892528
b.	Nature of the transaction	Grant of options over 210,000 ordinary shares of 1 pence each
c.	Price(s) and volume(s)	Exercise Price Volume(s) 26.0 pence 210,000
d.	Aggregated information	Not applicable
e.	Date of the transaction	27January 2020
f.	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange