AROBS Transilvania Software (BVB: AROBS), the largest technology company listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, announces the completion of the first phase of the Stock Option Plan (SOP) program to motivate and retain employees in the group companies. Through this program, AROBS aims to turn team members into company partners.

“Since the listing of AROBS, one of the company’s strategic directions has been to focus on employee motivation and retention through the adoption of several measures, including the Stock Option Plan program. This approach is a natural step in enhancing AROBS’s culture of openness to communication and innovationand entrepreneurship,with a community spirit that encourages professional and personal growth, creates a space of engagement and, at the same time, partnership. Involvement of colleagues in the work of the company is an element that distinguishes AROBS in the market and can attract talents with extensive experience in this field, who can contribute to the growth of the business line of software services for the global market, as well as in the development of software products for the domestic market and not only. At the same time, we hope that with this program we will whet the appetite of our colleagues to become future investors on the Bucharest Stock Exchange,“, – said Vojku Oprean, founder and CEO of AROBS.

In October 2021, the majority shareholder Vojku Oprean transferred to the company a certain number of shares, which on that date represented 10% of the company’s share capital. As a result of private placement and capital increase, the company became the owner of 80,202,758 shares, which was 8.8% of the share capital.

During the first phase of the SOP program implemented by AROBS, free options were granted to approximately 300 employees of the AROBS Group in November 2021. In total, 3,040,396 options that were converted into shares matured in November 2022. The first tranche of shares was awarded on the basis of criteria such as having been with the company for more than one year and exceptional performance in current operations.

AROBS constantly invests in recognizing the contribution of employees to the company’s success and strives to continue to be active in this direction. Thus, in September 2022, AROBS launched the SOP 2 program, which has already been extended to several companies of the Group – UCMS, SASFeet Tracking, AROBS Engineering (formerly Enea Software Development Services), BERG Software, through the management’s decision to allocate a number of approximately 35 million options for by the SOP 2 program, which can be implemented after all relevant conditions are met. In the next period, the group will continue the process of repurchasing shares from the market to supplement the shareholding in view of the future stages of the program and to stabilize the AROBS share price. The Company intends to continue implementing the SOP program on an annual basis.

In Romania, such a program is still rare among companies in all industries and almost non-existent among medium and large companies in the IT industry. According to the 2021 annual report published by the European Employee Shareholder Federation, approximately 8 million employees in Europe own shares in more than 2,800 companies. In the United States, there were approximately 6,500 such programs at the corporate and enterprise level in 2019, reaching approximately 14 million members, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO). In Romania, as companies are still at the beginning of the journey with this concept, there is no official data on the number of those who have implemented SOP programs.

SOP-type programs were more clearly defined in the Fiscal Code in 2016. They represent a form of rewarding employees and stimulating their direct contribution to the development of the company, given that the value of the share increases along with the company’s performance. According to research on this topic, the implementation of SOP helps to increase the productivity of companies and increase the rate of attracting new talent.

In addition, the implementation of such a program brings a number of advantages for both the employer and the employees. On the one hand, the company has the opportunity to reduce its operating costs and achieve fiscal optimization, which is allowed by the provisions of the current Fiscal Code. On the other hand, according to the Tax Code, for employees, both the options under the stock option plan and the shares received after the exercise of these options are not considered taxable income, and they are also exempt from social security contributions. However, investment gains recorded under stock option plan programs are taxable, so shares granted under the SOP are only taxable when the beneficiary chooses to sell them.

AROBS Transilvania Software has been listed on the AeRO market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange since December 6, 2021. The company currently has a market capitalization of approximately 784 million lei.

Article supported by AROBS