During the year the company had share option arrangements in place under both Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) and unapproved option schemes. Options have been granted to certain employees and/or directors to subscribe for ordinary shares in the company at an exercise price equal to the nominal value of the shares.
The options are subject to vesting conditions and are exercisable on the occurrence of specified events in accordance with the terms of the respective schemes.
At the balance sheet date, 16,124,039 options were outstanding, comprising 3,677,046 EMI options and 12,446,993 unapproved options.
In accordance with FRS 102 Section 26, the fair value of the options at the grant date has been assessed. Due to the very low value of the underlying shares at the date of grant, the total fair value of options granted is immaterial and therefore no share-based payment expense has been recognised in the profit and loss account for the year.