Unilever 2005 Annual Report Download - page 136

Financial Statements
Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2005 133
Notes to the consolidated accounts
Unilever Group
31 Share-based compensation plans (continued)
(i) All-Employee Option Plans
Unilever has All-Employee Plans in 16 countries, which can be grouped together as follows:
(a) Plans which follow a standard framework: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain,
Sweden and Switzerland.
(b) Other plans: North America, South Africa and United Kingdom.
Group (a):
The standard framework for these countries means, in principle, an annual grant of options over NV shares (Ireland: PLC shares), at the same
grant date, exercise price (the market price on the grant date) and grant size (including part-time employees pro rata) and with the same
eligibility criteria (all permanent employees in a country). There are no vesting conditions other than being continuously employed by a Group
company until the vesting date.
Group (b):
The UK and South Africa plans annually offer options over PLC shares, combined with a compulsory (UK) or optional (South Africa) savings plan.
The exercise price is the market price at date of grant. In 2003, Unilever UK introduced ‘ShareBuy’, an All-Employee Share Incentive Plan. It is
currently only being used as a tax efficient savings plan for employees, for which Unilever neither gives nor receives value. Accordingly, no
figures for this plan are included in this note.
The North America programme is a share purchase offering, with a compulsory savings plan, under which up to 10% of the salary of eligible
employees is withheld. At the end of the period employees can use the savings to buy NV New York shares at a discount. The maximum
number of shares made available under the plan is 8.9 million.
The table below summarises the main country-specific differences between the plans under which grants were made in 2005:
Maximum Vesting
term period Exercise
Country (year of introduction) Years Years period Remarks
Austria (2001) 5 3 24 months
Belgium (2001) 5 3.5 18 months
Denmark (2001) 5 3 24 months
Finland (2001) 5 3 24 months On 3rd, 4th or 5th anniversary
France (2000) 5 4 12 months
Germany (2000) 5 3 24 months
Ireland (2002) 5 3 24 months
Italy (2001) 5 3 24 months
Netherlands (1995) 5 0 5 years Keep shares during the first 3 years after grant
Portugal (2001) 3.5 3 6 months
Spain (2001) 5 3 24 months
Switzerland (2001) 5 3 24 months
UK (1985) 5.5 5 6 months ShareSave plan
South Africa (2001) 3.5 3 6 months Optional sharesave plan
No grants were made in Sweden or North America in 2005 or 2004.
A summary of the status of the All-Employee Plans as at 31 December 2005 and 2004 and changes during the years ended on these dates is
presented below:
2005 2004
Weighted Weighted
average average
Number of exercise Number of exercise
options price options price
NV shares of €0.51
Outstanding at 1 January 5 253 062 €58.79 4 480 673 €60.24
Granted 1 202 855 €53.00 1 266 960 €54.33
Exercised(a) (477 362) €52.98 (26 883) €51.62
Forfeited (411 463) €58.79 (308 593) €59.63
Expired (205 210) €56.93 (159 095) €63.65
Outstanding at 31 December 5 361 882 €58.08 5 253 062 €58.79
Exercisable at 31 December 2 216 677 €62.98 1 740 399 €60.71
PLC shares of 1.4p
Outstanding at 1 January 14 214 304 £5.17 17 071 055 £5.28
Granted 2 834 328 £5.40 2 287 826 £5.28
Exercised(a) (3 655 383) £4.26 (247 261) £4.55
Forfeited (1 628 307) £5.48 (2 567 876) £5.46
Expired (2 027 368) £5.32 (2 329 440) £5.78
Outstanding at 31 December 9 737 574 £5.50 14 214 304 £5.17
Exercisable at 31 December 376 322 £5.09 1 705 467 £5.14