Investor Group has cancelled nearly 14 million share options held by employees of the group, who will receive a nominal cash payment in advance of the introduction of a deferred share plan later this year.
The group has 15.82 million options on issue under employee option plans, compared to the 54.35 million fully paid ordinary shares on issue, but says it will cancel most of the options because they have not created value for employees.
Investor Group made the announcement to theAustralian Stock Exchange(ASX) yesterday and says the move is in line with plans, announced in December, to introduce a deferred share plan.
So far the directors have received acceptances to cancel about 85 per cent of the options with expectations staff will accept the offer to cancel the remaining options, all of which expire on or after September 30, 2003.
The nominal cash payment for cancelling options will be one-cent per option, with Investor Group expecting a maximum cash payment of around $138,000. The group says the payment will not affect its profits.
The group has already introduced a general exempt share plan which allows staff to purchase shares up to the value of $1000 on a tax effective salary sacrifice basis. This will be extended with the addition of the deferred share plan allowing staff to purchase shares beyond the $1000 limit, however this arrangement will be offered on a limited basis only.
The move to cancel options will still need to be approved by shareholders at the group’s annual general meeting in late October.
The news comes as the group will merge two of its Queensland accountancy practices, Laverty Roche and Kelly (LRK) and Walker Partners, which will operate under the new name of LRK Walkers.
The merged practice will have over 11,000 clients and work from four offices in the Darling Downs region and will rationalise parts of the business and combine financial planning operations to form a business unit with funds under advice of approximately$115 million.
