Access Corporation, Nigeria’s largest bank by total assets, recently awarded share options worth approximately N427 million to several key executives under its Restricted Share Performance Plan (RSPP).
The beneficiaries include Acting Group CEO Bola Agbede, MD/CEO Rosevelt Ogbonna, and Chief Financial Officer Seyi Kumapayi, among others.
The total allocation involved 23.8 million shares, priced at an average of N17.9 per share.
Under the terms of the RSPP, these shares are granted at no cost to the employees based on performance criteria and vest over a three-year period. The company’s also plan also extends to certain other employees within the group, where shares vest over seven years.
Recommended reading: Access Holdings reports N612.4 billion profits, up 300% YoY
Below is a breakdown of the shares distributed
Meanwhile, as of December 2023, Rosevelt Ogbonna owned 44,883,087 millions of the bank while Bola Agbede, and Kumapayi owned 25,475,406 and 34,239,373 respectively. Access corporations has a total outstanding shares is 30.7 billion shares.
It is unclear if this is the final shares earmarked to be vested or just the start of a larger efforts aimed to vesting shares to top executives and management of the corporation.
Access Corporation RSSP
The shares are held in a Structured Entity (SE) transferred from the bank to the parent company, Access Holdings, which purchases shares on behalf of employees from the Nigeria Exchange Group.
- According to the scheme, up to 20% of the aggregate emoluments of the bank’s employees may be set aside each financial period for this purpose.
- The financial implications of the RSPP are recorded in Access Corporation’s financial statements. A liability corresponding to the share options is recognized at each reporting date until the vesting period is complete, with adjustments for gains or losses reflected in the comprehensive income statement.
- If an employee leaves before the shares vest, they forfeit their entitlement.
- Upon vesting, shares are transferred from the SE to the employees. Previously held shares in the SE by the bank are now listed as receivables from Access Holdings.
Number of share yet to vest
According to the company’s financial statement for 2023, Access Corporation has about one billion one hundred and and fourteen million (1,114 million shares) outstanding under its staff share scheme as of December 2023.
The company also stated that in 2023 about N2.96 billion worth of shares were granted to its employees at a weighted average fair value of N8.45per share on grant date.
Access Corporation has a total outstanding shares of about 30.7 billion and reported an earnings per share of N17.23 as at the end of its 2023 financial year.
The company also declared a dividend of N1.8 per share. The corporation recently reported its first quarter interim results showing earnings per share more than doubled to N4.35 per share.
Recommended reading: Access Holdings to acquire National Bank of Kenya Limited
