Cogeco 2014 Annual Report Download - page 87

86 COGECO CABLE INC. 2014 Consolidated financial statements
During fiscal 2014 and 2013, subordinate voting shares held in trust under the Incentive Share Unit Plan transactions were as follows:
Years ended August 31, 2014 2013
Number of
shares Amount Number of shares Amount
(In thousands of Canadian dollars, except number of shares) $$
Balance, beginning of the year 206,708 8,840 149,802 6,179
Subordinate voting shares acquired 137,416 6,934 101,047 4,076
Subordinate voting shares distributed to employees (84,700) (3,505) (44,141) (1,415)
Balance, end of the year 259,424 12,269 206,708 8,840
C) DIVIDENDS
For the year ended August 31, 2014, quarterly eligible dividends of $0.30 per share, for a total of $1.20 per share, were paid to the holders
of multiple and subordinate voting shares, totaling $58.5 million, compared to quarterly eligible dividends of $0.26 per share, for a total of
$1.04 per share or $50.6 million for the year ended August 31, 2013.
At its October 31, 2014 meeting, the Board of Directors of Cogeco Cable declared a quarterly eligible dividend of $0.35 per share for multiple
voting and subordinate voting shares, payable on November 28, 2014 to shareholders of record on November 14, 2014.
D) SHARE-BASED PAYMENT PLANS
The Corporation offers, for the benefit of its employees and those of its subsidiaries, an Employee Stock Purchase Plan and a Stock Option
Plan for certain senior executives and designated employees. No more than 10% of the outstanding subordinate voting shares are available
for issuance under these plans. Furthermore, the Corporation offers an Incentive Share Unit Plan (“ISU Plan”) for senior executives and
designated employees of the Corporation and a Deferred Share Unit Plan (“DSU Plan”) for members of the Board of Directors ("Board") of
the Corporation.
Stock purchase plan
The Corporation offers, for the benefit of its employees and those of its subsidiaries, an Employee Stock Purchase Plan, which is accessible
to all employees up to a maximum of 7% of their base annual salary and the Corporation contributes 25% of the employee contributions.
The subscriptions are made monthly and employee subordinate voting shares are purchased on the stock market.
Stock option plan
A total of 2,400,000 subordinate voting shares are reserved for the purpose of the Stock Option Plan. The minimum exercise price at which
options are granted is equal to the market value of such shares at the time the option is granted. Options granted after September 1, 2009,
vest equally over a period of five years beginning one year after the day such options are granted and are exercisable over ten years. Prior
to September 1, 2009, options granted vest at the rate of 20% per year beginning the day such options were granted and were exercisable
over ten years. For the year ended August 31, 2014, the Corporation granted 311,650 stock options (223,942 in 2013) with an exercise price
of $50.10 to $58.12 ($38.08 to $49.40 in 2013) of which 84,250 stock options (71,233 in 2013) were granted to COGECO Inc.’s senior
executives who are also senior executives of Cogeco Cable Inc. As a result, a compensation expense of $796,000 ($408,000 in 2013) was
recorded for the year ended August 31, 2014.
Under the Stock Option Plan, the following options were granted by the Corporation and are outstanding at August 31:
Years ended August 31, 2014 2013
Options
Weighted
average
exercise price Options
Weighted
average exercise
price
$$
Outstanding, beginning of the year 725,093 37.14 609,686 34.80
Granted 311,650 50.12 223,942 39.96
Exercised(1) (189,008) 32.12 (88,115) 26.92
Cancelled (117,033) 45.47 (20,420) 42.18
Outstanding, end of the year 730,702 42.66 725,093 37.14
Exercisable, end of the year 270,454 36.54 382,676 33.68
(1) The weighted average share price for options exercised during the year was $53.23 ($47.22 in 2013).