Sanoma Corporation, Stock Exchange Release, 5 February 2015 at 8:45 CET+1

The Board of Directors of Sanoma Corporation has approved the commencement of new share-based plans as part of the long-term incentive programme.

Performance Share Plan 2015–2017 is a new plan under the annual share-based long-term incentive programme originally announced on 7 February 2013.

Restricted Share Plan 2015–2017 is a new plan under the additional structure of the annual share-based long-term incentive programme, announced on 7 February 2014.

The Performance Share Plan and the Restricted Share Plan form the long-term part of the remuneration and commitment programme for the executives and other selected key employees of Sanoma and its subsidiaries. The purpose of the Performance Share Plan and the Restricted Share Plan is to encourage the executives and the selected key employees to work on a long-term basis to increase shareholder value and to commit to the company.

Performance Share Plan 20152017

The performance measures for the Performance Share Plan 2015–2017 are based on the earnings per share (excluding non-recurring items) and the growth in net sales adjusted for structural changes in 2015.

The share rewards payable, subject to the achievement of the performance measures, will be delivered to the participants in the spring 2018, subject to the condition of continued employment at the time of the payment.

The Performance Share Plan 2015–2017 will comprise a maximum of 483,463 shares (gross, before the deduction of payroll tax). The Board of Directors has decided to allocate a total of 431,063 shares to 41 executives and other selected key employees of Sanoma. The remaining 52,400 shares (gross) are left unallocated for potential use at a later stage.

The estimated cost for the total Performance Share Plan 2015–2017 volume for the company at target level is around EUR 1.7 million.

Restricted Share Plan 20152017

The duration of the Restricted Share Plan commencing at the beginning of 2015 is three years and the share rewards payable based on the Restricted Share Plan 2015–2017, subject to the condition of continued employment at the time of the payment, will be delivered to the participants in two separate tranches, the first 50 per cent in the spring 2017 and the second 50 per cent in the spring 2018.

The Restricted Share Plan 2015–2017 will comprise a maximum of 648,650 shares (gross). The Board of Directors has decided to allocate a total of 617,375 shares (gross) to 367 executives and other selected key employees of Sanoma and its subsidiaries. The remaining 31,275 shares (gross) are left unallocated for potential use at a later stage.

The estimated cost for the total Restricted Share Plan 2015–2017 volume for the company is around EUR 3.4 million.

Performance Share Plan 20132014

The performance measures for the Performance Share Plan 2013–2014 were based on the earnings per share (excluding non-recurring items), and the development of digital and other new media sales.

The performance measures were not met and therefore there will be no payout related to the Performance Share Plan 2013–2014.

Additional information
Sanoma’s Investor Relations, Olli Turunen, tel. +358 40 552 8907

Sanoma.com

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Sanoma is a front running consumer media and learning company in Europe. In Finland and The Netherlands we are the market leading media company with a broad presence across multiple platforms. Our main markets in learning are Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. In 2014, Sanoma’s net sales totalled EUR 1.9 billion. Sanoma is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange.