Certain information contained within this Announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR") as applied in the United Kingdom. Upon publication of this Announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.
9 December 2022
Bidstack Group Plc
("Bidstack" or the "Company")
Grant of LTIP Options
Bidstack Group plc (AIM: BIDS), the native in-game advertising group, announces that, on the recommendation of the Remuneration Committee, has made an aggregate of 27,930,000 LTIP awards to Camila Franklin and Jude O'Connor (the "Executives").
In addition, the Company has made awards of a further 3,400,000 EMI and 15,525,350 unapproved share options to certain employees and 2,000,000 unapproved options to David Reeves, its Chairman.
For the purposes of the new LTIP awards to the Executives and others, the awards have been made in two categories, each subject to different performance criteria.
For the first set of LTIP awards ("First Awards") the Remuneration Committee considered that the most appropriate performance target for the Company at this stage in its development is revenue. The vesting schedule below highlights the details for the achievement of the awards.
| Revenue % on target | Vesting Schedule % vesting |
| 90 and above | 100 |
| Between 75 and 90 | 50 - 100 (straight line basis between points) |
| 75 | 50 |
| Below 75 | 0 |
These LTIP awards also include an operating cost element which, if achieved, can increase the amount of vesting by 10%, in the event the revenue target is missed. Any awards not vesting from Year 1 will be rolled into the Year 2 award.
The second set of LTIP awards ("Second Awards") were intended to create circumstances which ought to lead to exceptional returns for the Company and its shareholders. The Remuneration Committee considered that EBITDA - Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation was an appropriately more challenging performance condition for the Company at this stage. The vesting schedule below highlights the details for the achievement of the second set of LTIP awards.
| EBITDA % on target | Vesting Schedule % vesting |
| 100 or above | 100 |
| 95 and above | 75 |
| 90 and above | 50 |
| Below 90 | 0 |
The LTIP awards to each of the Executives in each set of awards will vest over a three year period. All of the LTIP awards, when vested, will be exercisable on payment of nominal value only.
The First Awards have been made to the Executives as follows:
| Name | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Total |
| Camila Franklin | 3,490,901 | 3,490,901 | 3,490,948 | 10,473,750 |
| Jude O'Connor | 3,490,901 | 3,490,901 | 3,490,948 | 10,473,750 |
The Second Awards have been made as follows:
| Name | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Total |
| Camila Franklin | 1,163,634 | 1,163,634 | 1,163,983 | 3,491,250 |
| Jude O'Connor | 1,163,634 | 1,163,634 | 1,163,983 | 3,491,250 |
The relevant targets will be set by the Remuneration Committee based on the consensus of market expectations.
Notwithstanding the above performance criteria, all of the LTIP awards will vest in the event of a change of control of the Company.
In aggregate the above LTIP awards represent 2.14% of the current issued share capital of the Company as at the date hereof.
In addition to the above the Company has awarded 3,400,000 new EMI options to certain employees granted under the terms of the Bidstack Group Plc EMI Share Option Scheme 2018 ("EMI Options"), 15,525,350 new options to certain employees granted under the terms of the Bidstack Group Plc Unapproved Share Option Scheme 2018 and 2,000,000 unapproved share options to certain Directors and 5,600,000 unapproved share options to certain members of the Advisory Committee granted under the terms of the Bidstack Group Plc Unapproved Share Option Scheme 2018 ("Unapproved Options").
The only unapproved options being granted to a Director ("Director's Options") are as follows:
| Name | Number of Options |
| David Reeves | 2,000,000 |
These new EMI Options and Unapproved Options together represent 1.46 % of the current issued share capital of the Company as at the date hereof.
Each of these new EMI Options and Unapproved Options will be exercisable at a price of 3 pence per share (being the mid-market closing price on 8 December 2022) with the exception of the Director's Options which will be exercisable at a price of 3.6 pence per share. All of the new EMI Options and Unapproved Options granted to the Director will be exercisable three years after the date of grant, save in usual circumstances including the Company being the subject of a takeover offer, and all of the new options will expire ten years after the date of grant.
The Company announces the following PDMR dealings in accordance with Article 19 of the Market Abuse Regulation:
FORM FOR NOTIFYING DEALINGS BY PERSONS DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND PERSONS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THEM
| 1. | Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated | |
| a) | Name | Camila Franklin |
| 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 | Bidstack Group Plc |
| b) | LEI | 213800Q47UWF61LMRR02 |
| 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 0.5 pence each |
| b) | Identification code | GB00BZ7M6059 |
| c) | Nature of the transactions | Grant of Options |
| d) | Price(s) and volume(s) | Exercise price: 0.5 pence Volume: 10,473,750 First LTIP awards 3,491,250 Second LTIP awards |
| e) | Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price | 13,965,000 LTIP awards Exercise price: 0.5 pence |
| f) | Date of the transactions | 8 December 2022 |
| g) | Place of the transactions | Off market |
| 1. | Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated | |
| a) | Name | Jude O'Connor |
| 2. | Reason for the notification | |
| a) | Position/status | Chief Revenue Officer |
| b) | Initial notification/Amendment | Initial Notification |
| 3. | Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor | |
| a) | Name | Bidstack Group Plc |
| b) | LEI | 213800Q47UWF61LMRR02 |
| 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 0.5 pence each |
| b) | Identification code | GB00BZ7M6059 |
| c) | Nature of the transactions | Grant of Options |
| d) | Price(s) and volume(s) | Exercise price: 0.5 pence Volume: 10,473,750 First LTIP awards 3,491,250 Second LTIP awards |
| e) | Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price | 13,965,000 LTIP awards Exercise price: 0.5 pence |
| f) | Date of the transactions | 8 December 2022 |
| g) | Place of the transactions | Off market |
| 1. | Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated | |
| a) | Name | David Reeves |
| 2. | Reason for the notification | |
| a) | Position/status | Chairman |
| b) | Initial notification/Amendment | Initial Notification |
| 3. | Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor | |
| a) | Name | Bidstack Group Plc |
| b) | LEI | 213800Q47UWF61LMRR02 |
| 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 0.5 pence each |
| b) | Identification code | GB00BZ7M6059 |
| c) | Nature of the transactions | Grant of Options |
| d) | Price(s) and volume(s) | Exercise price: 3.6 pence Volume: 2,000,000 options |
| e) | Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price | As for d) above |
| f) | Date of the transactions | 8 December 2022 |
| g) | Place of the transactions | Off market |
| 1. | Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated | |
| a) | Name | Glen Ames |
| 2. | Reason for the notification | |
| a) | Position/status | Chief Product and Technology Officer |
| b) | Initial notification/Amendment | Initial Notification |
| 3. | Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor | |
| a) | Name | Bidstack Group Plc |
| b) | LEI | 213800Q47UWF61LMRR02 |
| 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 0.5 pence each |
| b) | Identification code | GB00BZ7M6059 |
| c) | Nature of the transactions | Grant of Options |
| d) | Price(s) and volume(s) | Exercise price: 3 pence Volume: 2,000,000 options |
| e) | Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price | As for d) above |
| f) | Date of the transactions | 8 December 2022 |
| g) | Place of the transactions | Off market |
- Ends -
Contacts:
| Bidstack Group Plc James Draper, CEO |
via Buchanan |
| SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (Nomad) Mark Brady / Neil Baldwin / James Keeshan | +44 (0) 203 368 3550 |
| Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Joint Broker) Fred Walsh / Tom Marsh
|
+44 (0) 20 7710 7600
|
| Buchanan Communications Limited Chris Lane / Stephanie Watson / Kim van Beeck |
+44 (0) 20 7466 5000 |
Notes to editors
About Bidstack
Bidstack is an advertising technology company which provides dynamic, targeted and automated native in-game advertising for the global video games industry across multiple platforms. Its proprietary technology is capable of inserting advertisements within video games. Bidstack's customers are games publishers and developers (on the supply side), and advertising agencies, brands and media-buying platforms (on the demand side).
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