[45] Variable remuneration
KEEP employee equity programme
On 20 September 2019, the Executive Board of KION Group AG decided to launch a further share option programme for employees (KEEP 2019) in the countries that had been included in the previous year. To be eligible to participate in KEEP 2019, employees needed, at the start of the offer phase, to have had a permanent, uninterrupted employment contract with a participating KION Group company for at least one year. Currently, KION GROUP AG plus 19 German (2018: 19) and 60 foreign (2018: 62) subsidiaries are eligible to take part in KEEP. Each year, the Executive Board of KION GROUP AG decides whether there will be an offer made under the employee share option programme that year and which companies will participate.
KEEP is a share matching plan. Participating employees acquire KION shares for their own investment purposes. Each set of three KION shares represents a share package. Once the three-year holding period has expired, employees are entitled to another free matching share (bonus share) for each share package. However, KION GROUP AG has the right to satisfy each programme participant’s entitlement by paying a cash settlement instead of granting a bonus share. For employees taking part for the first time, the KION Group offers a special incentive in the form of starter packages. Under KEEP 2019, the KION Group will bear the cost of one KION share (free share) in each of the first seven share packages that an employee takes up.
The right to obtain a bonus share lapses if participants sell their own investment in KION shares or cease to work for the KION Group. The change in the number of bonus shares granted is shown in > TABLE 120.
in units |
2019 |
2018 |
---|---|---|
Balance as at 01/01/ |
43,655 |
50,166 |
Granted bonus shares |
24,794 |
17,455 |
Exercised bonus shares |
–14,136 |
–22,580 |
Forfeited bonus shares |
–537 |
–1,386 |
Balance as at 31/12/ |
53,776 |
43,655 |
In 2019, 3,785 free shares were issued to employees as part of their starter packages (2018: 4,225 free shares).
The free shares to be issued are measured at their fair value on the day on which employees obtain the right to acquire shares as their own investment. The fair value on the grant date is determined on the basis of Monte Carlo simulation. The measurement parameters used are shown in > TABLE 121.
Measurement parameters |
KEEP 2019 |
KEEP 2018 |
KEEP 2017 |
---|---|---|---|
Expected dividend |
€1.30 |
€0.99 |
€0.88 |
Price of the KION share as at grant date |
€58.82 |
€44.59 |
€64.62 |
As at 31 December 2019, the fair value of a bonus share for KEEP 2019 was €55.16 (KEEP 2018: €42.03; KEEP 2017: €62.02).
The fair value of the bonus shares to be granted is recognised as an expense and paid into capital reserves over the three-year holding period. The holding period for KEEP 2016 ended on 5 October 2019 and the bonus shares were issued to the eligible employees at no cost.
In 2019, an expense totalling €0.9 million was recognised under the relevant functional costs for free shares and bonus shares in connection with the employee share option programme (2018: €1.0 million). Of this amount, €0.3 million related to KEEP 2019, €0.2 million to KEEP 2018 (2018: €0.3 million), €0.2 million to KEEP 2017 (2018: €0.2 million) and €0.2 million to KEEP 2016 (2018: €0.2 million). In 2018, there had also been an amount of €0.2 million relating to KEEP 2015.