Exercise and Grant of Options

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.  Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

 

6 April 2020

Strix Group plc

 

("Strix" or the "Company")

 

Exercise of Options, Block Listing Application and Grant of Options

 

 

Exercise of Options

 

Strix Group Plc (AIM: KETL), the global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of kettle safety controls and other complementary water products used in temperature control, steam management and water filtration, announces that today Mark Bartlett, Chief Executive officer, Raudres Wong, Chief Financial Officer and Frank Gao, Chief Operating Officer, exercised share options over 3,800,000, 1,900,000 and 510,000 ordinary shares of £0.01 each ("Ordinary Shares") respectively. These share options were granted on admission of the Company to trading on AIM on 7 August 2017 and all conditions set at that time have been achieved.

 

Mark Bartlett and Raudres Wong have no intention to dispose of any Ordinary Shares in the short to medium term.

 

Following the exercise of the options, the below directors and PDMRs have the following interests in the share capital of the Company:

 

 

Director	Position	Ordinary Shares held previously	% of total issued share capital	Number of Ordinary Shares over which options exercised	Resulting total number of Ordinary Shares held	% of enlarged issued share capital
Mark Bartlett	Chief Executive Officer	300,000	0.16%	3,800,000	4,100,000	2.06%
Raudres Wong1	Chief Financial Officer	300,000	0.16%	1,900,000	2,200,000	1.11%
Frank Gao	Chief Operating Officer	-	-	510,000	510,000	0.26%
TOTAL		600,000	0.31%	6,210,000	6,810,000	3.42%

 

¹ Shares held in the name of her husband, Wing Yip Fong

In addition, certain other employees of the Company have exercised share options over 821,767 Ordinary Shares.

 

Strix has made application to the London Stock Exchange for the issue of securities in respect of 7,031,767 new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM in relation to the exercise of these share options and it is expected that admission will become effective on 7 April 2020.

 

Block Listing Application

 

Strix also today announces that an application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for a block listing of securities in respect of 1,152,439 new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM.

 

These new Ordinary Shares will be issued from time to time in order to satisfy the requirement to allot certain shares to employees under the Strix Group 2017 Long Term Incentive Plan. It is expected that admission will become effective on 7 April 2020.

 

New Ordinary Shares will be issued credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares of the Company.

 

Total voting rights

 

Following the admission of the new Ordinary Shares pursuant to the exercise of share options and the Block Listing, the Company's issued share capital will comprise 198,878,852 Ordinary Shares and may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury.

 

Grant of Options

 

Strix also announces that it granted options today over a total of 1,275,420 Ordinary Shares under the Strix Group Plc Long Term Incentive Plan.

 

Included within the 1,275,420 options granted are the following to Directors and PDMRs of the Company as part of their annual remuneration and incentivisation packages:

 

Director	Position	Number of options granted	Total number of unvested share options held
Mark Bartlett	Chief Executive Officer	197,138	603,953
Raudres Wong	Chief Financial Officer	196,060	584,197
Frank Gao	Chief Operating Officer	109,297	308,486
TOTAL		502,496	1,496,637

 

 

Of the remaining 772,925 options granted, 235,177 have been awarded to members of the Company's trading board and 537,748 to other employees. All options have been granted at nil cost and for those granted to the Company's trading board these are subject to performance conditions as determined by the Company's Remuneration Committee. Those granted to other employees are subject to remaining in employment with the Company for two years post being granted or specific individual strategic objectives.

 

Following these grants the total number of options over Ordinary Shares in issue is 3,585,590 representing 1.80 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company.

 

The notification below, made in accordance with the requirements of the EU Market Abuse Regulation, provides further detail.

 

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them.

 

 

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Mark Bartlett
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	CEO
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Strix Group plc
b)	LEI	213800KZEW5W6BZMNT62
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	Ordinary shares of £0.01   ISIN: GB00BCCW4X83
b)	Nature of the transaction	Exercise of Share Options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 0p 3,800,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A - single transaction
e)	Date of the transaction	6 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM

 

 

 

 

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Raudres Wong
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	CFO
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Strix Group plc
b)	LEI	213800KZEW5W6BZMNT62
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	Ordinary shares of £0.01   ISIN: GB00BCCW4X83
b)	Nature of the transaction	Exercise of Share Options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 0p 1,900,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A - single transaction
e)	Date of the transaction	6 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM

 

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Frank Gao
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	COO
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Strix Group plc
b)	LEI	213800KZEW5W6BZMNT62
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	Ordinary shares of £0.01   ISIN: GB00BCCW4X83
b)	Nature of the transaction	Exercise of Share Options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 0p 510,000
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A - single transaction
e)	Date of the transaction	6 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM

 

 

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Mark Bartlett
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Chief Executive Officer
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Strix Group Plc
b)	LEI	213800KZEW5W6BZMNT62
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	Ordinary shares of £0.01   ISIN: GB00BCCW4X83
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of Options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 0p 197,138
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A - single transaction
e)	Date of the transaction	6 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM

 

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Raudres Wong
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Chief Financial Officer
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Strix Group Plc
b)	LEI	213800KZEW5W6BZMNT62
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	Ordinary shares of £0.01   ISIN: GB00BCCW4X83
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of Options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 0p 196,060
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A - single transaction
e)	Date of the transaction	6 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM

 

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	Frank Gao
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	Chief Operating Officer
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Strix Group Plc
b)	LEI	213800KZEW5W6BZMNT62
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	Ordinary shares of £0.01   ISIN: GB00BCCW4X83
b)	Nature of the transaction	Grant of Options
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price(s) Volume(s) 0p 109,297
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	N/A - single transaction
e)	Date of the transaction	6 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	London Stock Exchange, AIM

 

Further enquiries, please contact:

Strix Group Plc Mark Bartlett, CEO Raudres Wong, CFO	+44 (0) 1624 829829
Zeus Capital Limited (Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker) Nick Cowles / Jamie Peel / Jordan Warburton (Corporate Finance)	+44 (0) 20 3829 5000
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Joint Broker)	+44 (0) 20 7710 7600
Matthew Blawat / Francis North
IFC Advisory Limited (Financial PR and IR)	+44 (0) 20 3934 6630
Graham Herring / Tim Metcalfe / Florence Chandler

 

ABOUT STRIX GROUP PLC

Isle of Man based Strix, is a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of kettle safety controls and other components and devices involving water heating and temperature control, steam management and water filtration.

Strix's core product range comprises a variety of safety controls for small domestic appliances, primarily kettles. Kettle safety controls require precision engineering and intricate knowledge of material properties in order to repeatedly function correctly. Strix has built up market leading capability and know-how in this field since being founded in 1982.

Strix is admitted to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: KETL).