Incentive Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

We have incentive compensation plans that authorize the issuance of stock-based awards for key employees, which are designed to reward short and long-term contributions and provide incentives for recipients to remain with the Company. We issue stock-based awards in the form of restricted stock units and performance stock units that generally vest between one and five years from the grant date and can be settled in cash or shares. Expenses associated with these awards are recognized over each respective vesting period. Liability based awards are settled in cash, while equity based awards are settled in stock.

The Albany International 2017 Incentive Plan provides key members of management with incentive compensation based on achieving certain performance or service measures. Awards can be paid in cash, shares of Class A Common Stock, Options, or other stock-based or incentive compensation awards pursuant to the Plan. Participants may elect to receive shares net of applicable income taxes.

Annual awards granted under this plan resulted in cash payments of $4.5 million in 2022 and $3.1 million in 2021 as a result of performance in the preceding year.

The Compensation Committee granted the executive management team a multi-year incentive compensation award in each of 2020, 2021 and 2022. Each of these awards vests over three years from the grant date, and the extent of payout is dependent upon the achievement of certain performance metrics during the vesting period, as defined by the Compensation Committee. Payout is scheduled to occur no later than 90 days after the end of the vesting period. If a participant terminates employment prior to the award becoming fully vested, the person may forfeit all or a portion of the incentive compensation award. The grant date share price is determined when the awards are approved each year and that price is used to measure the cost for the share-based portion of an award. Expense associated with these awards is recognized over the vesting period. In connection with these awards, we recognized expense of $3.9 million in 2022, $3.7 million in 2021 and $4.8 million in 2020. The net impact to earnings for the respective years was $2.7 million, $2.6 million, and $3.4 million. Based on current estimates of achievement of certain performance metrics, we anticipate recognizing $1.2 million of expense in 2022 and $0.3 million of expense in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Beginning in 2021, the executive management team also receives restricted stock units that vest annually on December 31 and pay out no later than 90 days after the vesting period ends. The grant date share price is the date when the award is approved by the Compensation Committee and is used to measure the cost of the award. We recognized $1.5 million of expense in 2022 associated with these restricted stock units. The net impact to earnings was $1.0 million.

As of December 31, 2022, there were 860,629 shares of Company stock authorized for the payment of awards under these plans. Information with respect to these plans is presented below:


	Number of shares	Weighted average grant date value per share		Year-end intrinsic value (000's)
Shares potentially payable at January 1, 2020	81,712	$	65.06	$	5,316
Forfeitures	—
Payments	(20,680)	$	47.35
Shares accrued based on 2020 performance	36,808	$	73.43
Shares potentially payable at December 31, 2020	97,840	$	71.95	$	7,040
Forfeitures	—
Payments	(31,722)	$	66.25
Shares accrued based on 2021 performance	41,512	$	78.06
Shares potentially payable at December 31, 2021	107,630	$	75.99	$	8,179
Forfeitures	—
Payments	(35,897)	$	84.27
Shares accrued based on 2022 performance	64,208	$	86.00
Shares potentially payable at December 31, 2022	135,941	$	79.11	$	10,754

In 2012, the Company adopted a Phantom Stock Plan ("PSP") whereby awards under this program vest over a 5 year period and are paid annually in cash based on current market prices of the Company’s stock. Under this program, employees may earn more or less than the target award based on the Company’s results in the year of the award. Expense recognized for this plan amounted to $8.6 million in 2022, $6.6 million in 2021, and $5.4 million in 2020. The net impact to earnings for the respective years was $6.0 million, $4.6 million, and $3.9 million. Based on awards outstanding at December 31, 2022, we expect to record approximately $16 million of compensation cost from 2023 to 2026. The weighted average period for recognition of that cost is approximately 2 years.

The determination of compensation expense for the PSP is based on the number of outstanding share units, the end-of-period share price, and Company performance. Information with respect to the PSP is presented below:


	Number of shares	Weighted average value per share		Cash paid for share based liabilities (000's)
Share units potentially payable at January 1, 2020	215,072

Grants	63,104
Changes due to performance	27,921
Payments	(80,808)	$	73.04	$	5,848
Forfeitures	(11,441)
Share units potentially payable at December 31, 2020	213,848

Grants	56,536
Changes due to performance	52,296
Payments	(68,622)	$	74.22	$	5,093
Forfeitures	(5,644)
Share units potentially payable at December 31, 2021	248,414

Grants	49,863
Changes due to performance	34,539
Payments	(81,421)	$	85.69	$	6,977
Forfeitures	(24,644)
Share units potentially payable at December 31, 2022	226,751

During 2020, 2021 and 2022, the Company granted restricted stock units to executives. The amount of compensation expense is subject to change in the market price of the Company’s stock and was recorded in Selling, general, and administrative expenses. The vesting and payments due under these grants will occur in various periods from 2020 to 2024. Expense recognized for these grants was $1.5 million in 2022, $0.6 million in 2021, and $0.4 million in 2020. The net impact to earnings for the respective years was $1.0 million, $0.4 million, and $0.3 million. Based on awards outstanding at December 31, 2022, we expect to record approximately $1.0 million of compensation cost during 2023.

The Company maintains a voluntary savings plan covering substantially all employees in the United States. The Plan, known as the Prosperity Plus Savings Plan, is a qualified plan under section 401(k) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The Company matches, in the form of cash, between 50 percent and 100 percent of employee contributions up to a defined maximum. The investment of employee contributions to the plan is self-directed. The Company’s cost of the plan amounted to $6.6 million in 2022, $6.2 million in 2021, and $6.5 million in 2020.

The Company’s profit-sharing plan covers substantially all employees in the United States. After the close of each year, the Board of Directors reviews and approves the amount of the profit-sharing contribution. Company contributions to the plan are in the form of cash. The expense recorded for this plan was $4.6 million in 2022, $4.8 million in 2021, and $3.6 million in 2020.