In considering the number of additional shares proposed to be authorized under the 1996 Plan, the Committee
and the Board considered the potential dilution that would result from the full usage of shares requested for issuance under the 1996 Plan, VFs historical burn rate and the expected plan duration based on historical burn rate, as follows:
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Total potential overhang of 16.5%1, |
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three-year average burn rate of 1.42%, and |
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an expected plan duration of three years. |
If we continue to grant our current annual long-term incentive award mix of stock options and full-value shares in the form of performance-based restricted
stock units (PRSUs) and time-based restricted stock units, then our actual total dilution would be only approximately 11%, due to the effect of the 1996 Plans 3 to 1 fungible share ratio, where each grant of a share subject to a full value
award counts as the grant of three shares instead of one share (with shares subject to options and SARs each counting for one share).
If approved, the
requested shares will provide continued stability to our compensation program for equity-eligible employees and non-employee directors. We anticipate that shareholders will have an opportunity to approve a new
share request in 2027.
The potential overhang, historical burn rate and expected duration of the 1996 Plan each fall within market practice of companies
within our industry.
III. |
What are the implications to VF if shareholders do not approve the Equity Plan Proposal?
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A failure of the Equity Plan Proposal would have immediate and near-term adverse consequences to VF.
Our turnaround strategy would be impaired. Ensuring we have the right talent to lead VF is a critical element in our turnaround strategy. VFs CEO
has hired a number of senior executives to support his team in driving VFs performance and creating shareholder value. These senior executives were attracted to VF, in part, for the opportunity to work with VFs beloved and iconic brands
and effect meaningful impact in a business turnaround scenario. Accordingly, the compensation packages for these senior executives include meaningful equity awards to align their interests with the long-term interests of VF and our shareholders.
In order to attract and retain top tier talent, incentives such as equity awards are required to remain competitive, and without the ability to grant
equity awards, our turnaround strategy would be impaired. For example, if we are unable to grant equity, we may need to provide cash-settled awards to certain key executives and other employees, which could potentially delay our investments in other
strategic priorities such as product innovation to drive a successful turnaround, as well as impede our near-term priority of reducing leverage through improving earnings and generating strong cash flow.
New hire and retention equity awards would not be possible. VF regularly grants new hire and retention awards to new and existing officers and other
employees below the senior executive level and grants annual equity awards to non-employee directors. However, if shareholders do not approve the Equity Plan Proposal, we will not have shares available under
the 1996 Plan to grant equity awards to these senior executives and other new senior leaders, as well as awards for other officers and employees and non-employee directors. As a result, VF may need to replace
some or all of these equity awards with cash-settled awards.
Contingent grants would be immediately cancelled. As noted above, on May 28, 2024, we
granted certain annual equity awards contingent on shareholder approval of the Equity Plan Proposal due to insufficient shares remaining available in the 1996 Plan on the grant date. These contingent awards represent nearly 75% of all fiscal
2025 annual grants made to eligible employees and 50% of all fiscal 2025 annual grants made to our non-employee directors. If shareholders do not approve the Equity Plan Proposal, then these contingent awards
would be immediately cancelled and we would have insufficient shares for future grants as well.
1 |
Fully-diluted overhang is calculated as the sum of grants outstanding and shares available for future awards
(numerator) divided by the sum of the numerator and basic common shares outstanding, with all data effective as of May 31, 2024. |