Escape Hunt plc (LON:ESC), a global leader in the growing escape room sector, has announced the establishment and launch of a new HMRC tax-advantaged all employee share scheme, namely the Escape Hunt plc Share Incentive Plan.
The SIP has been adopted to promote and support the principles of wider share ownership amongst all the Company’s employees. The Plan is available to all eligible employees, including Escape Hunt’s executive directors, and invites individuals to elect to purchase ordinary shares of 1.25p each in the Company via the SIP trustee using monthly salary deductions. Shares will be purchased monthly by the SIP trustee on behalf of the participating employees at the prevailing market price. Individual elections can be as little as £10 per month, but may not, in aggregate, exceed £1,800 per employee in any one tax year. The Ordinary Shares acquired in this manner are referred to as “Partnership Shares” and, for each Partnership Share purchased, participants will be awarded one further Ordinary Share, known as a “Matching Share”, at nil cost.
Matching Shares must normally be held in the SIP for a minimum holding period of 3 years and, other than in certain exceptional circumstances, will be forfeited if, during that period, the participant in question ceases employment or withdraws their corresponding Partnership Shares from the Plan.
The initial purchases of Partnership Shares and awards of Matching Shares under the Plan will take place in early March 2021 and are expected to continue monthly thereafter.
Allotment of Ordinary Shares and Total Voting Rights
It is currently expected that:
· all Partnership Shares acquired monthly by the SIP trustee on behalf of participants in the SIP will be existing Ordinary Shares purchased in the market; and
· all Matching Shares awarded to the above individuals will be new Ordinary Shares allotted to the SIP trustee.
Given the above, and in order to provide for the anticipated demand for Matching Shares over the next 12 months, the Company announces that, on 4 February 2021, it allotted 125,000 new Ordinary Shares to the trustee of the SIP, such shares representing 0.14% of the issued share capital of the Company.
It is anticipated that the New Ordinary Shares, which will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of the Company, will be admitted to trading on AIM on 10 February 2021. Following Admission, the Company’s issued share capital will comprise 88,620,091 Ordinary Shares with voting rights and that figure 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 to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury.
Commenting on the Plan, Richard Harpham, CEO of Escape Hunt, said: “We are delighted to have been able to put this SIP in place and believe that offering all our employees the opportunity to own a stake in the Company through a tax efficient scheme, which rewards loyalty, will both incentivise and reward the individuals who are so important to the future of the business.”
