Precipio Announces Employee Stock Option Plan Repricing
Precipio (NASDAQ: PRPO) announces the repricing of a portion of its employee stock options to enhance retention in the competitive cancer diagnostics industry. The company is repricing only options granted before 2023, representing 58% of outstanding options, from a weighted average strike price of $57.22 to $6.56. This change affects primarily already vested options (88%) and includes a one-year lock-in period. Management emphasizes that this decision aims to create shareholder value by retaining valuable employees without impacting cash or revenue. The repricing is expected to realign incentives and motivate employees to contribute to the company's success, ultimately benefiting shareholders through potential share price appreciation.
Precipio (NASDAQ: PRPO) annuncia la riprezzo di una parte delle opzioni su azioni riservate ai propri dipendenti per migliorare la retention nell'industria competitiva della diagnostica del cancro. L'azienda sta riprezzando solo le opzioni concesse prima del 2023, che rappresentano il 58% delle opzioni outstanding, da un prezzo di esercizio medio ponderato di $57.22 a $6.56. Questo cambiamento interessa principalmente le opzioni già maturate (88%) e prevede un periodo di lock-in di un anno. La direzione sottolinea che questa decisione mira a creare valore per gli azionisti trattenendo dipendenti preziosi senza impattare sul cash o sui ricavi. La riprezzo dovrebbe riallineare gli incentivi e motivare i dipendenti a contribuire al successo dell'azienda, beneficiando infine gli azionisti attraverso un possibile apprezzamento del prezzo delle azioni.
Precipio (NASDAQ: PRPO) anuncia la revaluación de una parte de sus opciones sobre acciones para empleados con el fin de mejorar la retención en la competitiva industria de diagnósticos de cáncer. La empresa está revaluando únicamente opciones otorgadas antes de 2023, que representan el 58% de las opciones en circulación, de un precio de ejercicio medio ponderado de $57.22 a $6.56. Este cambio afecta principalmente a las opciones ya adquiridas (88%) e incluye un período de bloqueo de un año. La dirección enfatiza que esta decisión tiene como objetivo crear valor para los accionistas al retener empleados valiosos sin afectar el efectivo o los ingresos. Se espera que la revaluación realinee los incentivos y motive a los empleados a contribuir al éxito de la empresa, beneficiando en última instancia a los accionistas a través de una posible apreciación del precio de las acciones.
프레시피오 (NASDAQ: PRPO)는 경쟁이 치열한 암 진단 산업에서 직원 유지 관리를 강화하기 위해 일부 직원 주식 옵션의 가격을 재조정한다고 발표했습니다. 회사는 2023년 이전에 부여된 옵션만 재조정하고 있으며, 이는 발행된 옵션의 58%를 차지합니다. 가중 평균 행사 가격은 $57.22에서 $6.56로 조정됩니다. 이 변경 사항은 주로 이미 부여된 옵션(88%)에 영향을 미치며, 1년 동안의 잠금 기간이 포함됩니다. 경영진은 강조합니다 이 결정은 귀중한 직원을 유지함으로써 주주 가치를 창출하기 위한 것이며, 현금이나 수익에 영향을 미치지 않습니다. 가격 재조정은 인센티브를 재조정하고 직원들이 회사의 성공에 기여하도록 동기를 부여할 것으로 예상되며, 궁극적으로 주주가 주가 상승을 통해 혜택을 받을 수 있습니다.
Precipio (NASDAQ: PRPO) annonce la réévaluation d'une partie de ses options d'achat d'actions pour les employés afin d'améliorer la rétention dans l'industrie compétitive du diagnostic du cancer. L'entreprise ne réévalue que les options accordées avant 2023, représentant 58 % des options en circulation, d'un prix d'exercice moyen pondéré de 57,22 $ à 6,56 $. Ce changement concerne principalement les options déjà acquises (88 %) et inclut une période de verrouillage d'un an. La direction souligne que cette décision vise à créer de la valeur pour les actionnaires en retenant des employés précieux sans impacter la trésorerie ou les revenus. La réévaluation devrait réaligner les incitations et motiver les employés à contribuer au succès de l'entreprise, au bénéfice des actionnaires grâce à une éventuelle appréciation du prix des actions.
Precipio (NASDAQ: PRPO) kündigt die Neubewertung eines Teils seiner Mitarbeiteraktienoptionen an, um die Bindung in der wettbewerbsintensiven Krebsdiagnosebranche zu verbessern. Das Unternehmen bewertet nur Optionen neu, die vor 2023 gewährt wurden und 58 % der ausstehenden Optionen ausmachen, von einem gewichteten durchschnittlichen Ausübungspreis von 57,22 $ auf 6,56 $. Diese Änderung betrifft hauptsächlich bereits ausgegebene Optionen (88 %) und umfasst eine einjährige Sperrfrist. Die Geschäftsleitung betont, dass diese Entscheidung darauf abzielt, den Shareholder-Wert zu steigern, indem wertvolle Mitarbeiter gehalten werden, ohne den Cashflow oder Einnahmen zu beeinträchtigen. Die Neubewertung wird voraussichtlich die Anreize neu ausrichten und die Mitarbeiter motivieren, zum Erfolg des Unternehmens beizutragen, was letztendlich den Aktionären durch eine potenzielle Wertsteigerung der Aktien zugutekommen sollte.
- No cash impact on the company's balance sheet
- No effect on revenue or gross margin
- Potential to improve employee retention in a competitive industry
- Realignment of employee incentives with shareholder interests
- One-year lock-in period for repriced options, encouraging long-term commitment
- Non-cash expense to be charged to P&L based on Black-Scholes model
- Potential dilution of shareholder value if repriced options are exercised
- Repricing may be perceived negatively by long-term shareholders who have experienced share price decline
Insights
This repricing of employee stock options, while not directly impacting financials, carries significant implications for Precipio's long-term stability and growth potential. The move addresses the issue of 'underwater' options, potentially enhancing employee retention in a competitive industry. However, it's important to note that this decision dilutes existing shareholder value to some extent.
The repricing affects
The one-year lock-in period until August 2025 is a positive aspect, ensuring continued employee commitment. However, investors should closely monitor the company's performance post-repricing to assess whether this strategy translates into tangible business growth and shareholder returns.
Precipio's decision to reprice stock options is a strategic move in talent retention, important in the specialized cancer diagnostics field. The company rightly recognizes the high cost of employee turnover, which can exceed six figures per employee when considering recruitment, training and operational disruptions.
The repricing structure is thoughtfully designed, targeting only pre-2023 options while maintaining higher strike prices for more recent grants. This approach balances the need to provide meaningful incentives with the desire to set ambitious targets for share price appreciation.
The 1-year lock-in mechanism is particularly noteworthy, as it ensures continued commitment from employees benefiting from the repricing. This aligns with best practices in retention strategies, potentially reducing turnover and associated costs. However, the effectiveness of this plan will ultimately depend on Precipio's ability to translate retained talent into improved business performance and share price growth.
Management lays out rationale and impact to shareholders below
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Sept. 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Specialty cancer diagnostics company Precipio, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRPO) announces the Company’s repricing of a portion of its employee stock options to ensure their effectiveness as a retention tool for valuable employees. Management is confident that the practical, strategic, and economic benefit to shareholders will ultimately be positive. Retaining valuable employees in an extremely competitive industry is key to ensuring the company’s continued growth and success.
“The company’s achievement of its milestones would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of its employees. Management believes it is in the shareholders’ interest to recognize their efforts and encourage their continued work by addressing a long-standing issue with stock options that are ‘underwater.’ Management and the board of directors have spent significant time structuring this change with only one goal in mind – creating shareholder value,” said Ilan Danieli, Precipio’s CEO. “We are confident that as you read further, you will recognize that these changes have been designed to ultimately create shareholder value. We encourage you to read this press release in its entirety so you can gain an insight into management’s rationale, and understand the expected impact of this change on you, our shareholder.”
In this press release we will provide the following:
- Rationale for the repricing
- Changes made to the ESOP
- Expected Impact on shareholders
As you can appreciate, the intent of any established company’s ESOP is to create a long-term retention tool for its employees by sharing in the benefits of share price appreciation. Given that a large portion of our outstanding stock options are “underwater,” the plan has become ineffective.
Management has decided on several repricing principles that we believe will ultimately benefit the shareholders (as well as the employees), thereby aligning incentives. We wanted to ensure that while we are repricing some of the stock options, there is still a significant high bar required for them to become of value.
The rationale for the repricing
The diagnostic field is known for its complexity and the specialized skill set required for the business to operate and succeed. With growing competition and rapid advancements in technology, retaining highly qualified professionals has become increasingly challenging. The cost of losing a valuable employee is substantial, often reaching six figures per employee and includes several factors, among them:
- Impact on daily workflow and company operations
- Loss of training invested in that employee
- Cost of recruiting, hiring and training a replacement employee
To address this, Precipio has decided to reprice some of its employee stock options to ensure that this is an effective tool in retaining our employees and providing fair compensation for their expertise, dedication, and contribution.
As with all young developing companies, an ESOP is an important retention tool that provides a potential upside in the event of the Company’s growth and share price appreciation, and for many can provide the balancing factor for taking that risk versus working for more established companies. However, as in our case, if the stock options are underwater and have no value, the impact of that balancing factor is eliminated.
Furthermore, having properly priced stock options aligns employee and company goals. By offering equity ownership at a price that can potentially generate value for employees, employees are more motivated to contribute to the Company's success.
The following changes will be made to our ESOP:
- Management has distinguished between stock options granted prior to year-end 2022 (representing
58% of the current options outstanding), and stock options granted in 2023 and 2024 (representing42% of the current options outstanding). - The Company is repricing only stock options granted prior to year-end 2022, representing approximately
58% of the total outstanding options. All options granted in 2023 (with strike prices ranging from$7.80 t o$12.40) , and in 2024 (with strike prices ranging from$4.98 t o$6.52) will remain unaltered.
This structure creates an aggressive target for management to reach before these options are valuable, ensuring that shareholders will have experienced a substantial appreciation. This incentivizes management and employees to continue to work hard and create shareholder value for all constituents. - A vast majority (
88% ) of the repriced stock options are already vested. The weighted average strike price of the stock options granted prior to year-end 2022 is$57.22 , which when compared to the closing share price of$6.56 last week renders them virtually ineffective as an incentive tool. Therefore, these stock options will be repriced to a strike price of$6.56 , the Company’s closing stock price on Friday, August 30th, 2024.
In order to ensure that these options serve as an incentive tool to retain our employees, we have included a 1-year lock-in mechanism. This means that the employees will be able to exercise their repriced options at the new price only after August 30th, 2025.
Expected Impact on Shareholders
Management realizes that this decision may elicit frustration from long-term shareholders who have experienced a decline in the value of their shares. The following are the expected positive impacts (or lack of any negative impact) to shareholders:
- Cash/balance sheet impact. There is no cash impact to this repricing since employee stock options are a non-cash item and do not cost the company any cash.
- P&L statement. We will be calculating the non-cash expense based on Black-Scholes model, which will be charged to the P&L. This will not impact company performance in terms of revenue, and gross margin.
- The revised ESOP will create a more realistic incentive for employees to target. We believe that realistic incentives drive behavior. Whereas in the past, management has noticed that many of our employees essentially disregard the ESOP as an unrealistic and meaningless vehicle, they have now expressed significant appreciation of this change.
In summary, we believe this change presents no downside for our shareholders, while realigning a plan that is intended as a tool for retaining valuable employees, the key to the company achieving success.
About Precipio
Precipio is a healthcare biotechnology company focused on cancer diagnostics. Our mission is to address the pervasive problem of cancer misdiagnoses by developing solutions in the form of diagnostic products and services. Our products and services deliver higher accuracy, improved laboratory workflow, and ultimately better patient outcomes, which reduce healthcare expenses. Precipio develops innovative technologies in our laboratory where we design, test, validate, and use these products clinically, improving diagnostic outcomes. Precipio then commercializes these technologies as proprietary products that serve the global laboratory community and further scales Precipio’s reach to eradicate misdiagnosis. For more information, please visit www.precipiodx.com.
Please follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter @PrecipioDx and on Facebook.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the targets set herein and related timing.
Except for historical information, statements about future volumes, sales, growth, costs, cost savings, margins, earnings, earnings per share, diluted earnings per share, cash flows, plans, objectives, expectations, growth or profitability are forward-looking statements based on management’s estimates, beliefs, assumptions and projections. Words such as “could,” “may,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “will,” “targets,” “goals,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “predicts,” and variations on such words, and similar expressions that reflect our current views with respect to future events and operational, economic and financial performance, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are only predictions based on management’s current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, and our other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release only. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
FAQ
What is the new strike price for Precipio's repriced stock options?
When can employees exercise the repriced stock options for Precipio (PRPO)?
What percentage of Precipio's outstanding stock options are being repriced?
How will the stock option repricing affect Precipio's (PRPO) cash position?
