STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY [Abstract]

STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

10.  STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Equity Compensation Plans

Restricted Stock Plan

The Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. 2013 Restricted Stock Plan (the “2013 Plan”) was adopted by our Board of Directors in January 2013 and approved by our stockholders in June 2013.  The 2013 Plan initially reserved up to 300,000 shares of our common stock for restricted stock and restricted stock unit (“RSU”) awards to our executive officers, non-employee directors and other key employees.   In June 2020, our stockholders approved an increase to the plan reserve to 800,000 shares of our common stock and extended the 2013 Plan through June 2023.  Awards granted under the 2013 Plan may be service-based awards or performance-based awards and may be subject to a graded vesting schedule with a minimum vesting period of four years, unless otherwise determined by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors that administers the plan.  In June 2022, as part of their annual director compensation, certain of our non-employee directors were granted a total of 14,000 service-based RSUs under the 2013 Plan, which will vest ratably over the next four years provided that the participant is still on the board on the vesting date.

In addition to grants under the Company’s 2013 Restricted Stock Plan, in October 2018 we granted a total of 644,000 RSUs to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), of which (i) 460,000 are service-based RSUs that vest ratably over a period of five years from the grant date based on our CEO’s continued employment in her role, (ii) 92,000 are performance-based RSUs that will vest if the Company’s operating income exceeds $12 million dollars two fiscal years in a row, and (iii) 92,000 are performance-based RSUs that will vest if the Company’s operating income exceeds $14 million dollars in one fiscal year.

A summary of the activity for non-vested restricted stock and RSU awards is as follows:

	Shares			Weighted Average
	(in thousands)			Share Price
Balance, January 1, 2022		423		$	7.03
Granted		161			5.01
Forfeited		-			-
Vested		(143	)		6.56
Balance, December 31, 2022		441		$	6.46

The Company’s stock-based compensation relates to restricted stock and RSU awards.  For these service-based awards, our stock-based compensation expense, included in operating expenses, was $1.1 million and $0.8 million in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company has concluded it is not probable that the performance conditions related to performance-based RSUs will be achieved, and as a result no compensation expense related to performance-based RSUs has been recorded.

As of December 31, 2022, there was unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested, service-based awards of $1.1 million which will be recognized over 1.1 weighted average years in each of the following years:

Unrecognized Expense
2023	$	752
2024		239
2025		89
2026		7
	$	1,087

We issue shares from authorized shares upon the lapsing of vesting restrictions on restricted stock and RSUs.  In 2022 and 2021, we issued 140,277 and 114,075 shares, respectively net of shares withheld to pay participants’ income taxes, resulting from the vesting of restricted stock and RSUs. We do not use cash to settle equity instruments issued under stock-based compensation awards.

Share Repurchase Program

On August 9, 2020, the Board of Directors approved a new program to repurchase up to $5.0 million of its common stock between August 9, 2020 and July 31, 2022.  This program expired in July 2022. As of December 31, 2021, the full $5.0 million of our common stock remained available for repurchase under this program. On August 8, 2022, the Board of Directors approved a new program to repurchase up to $5.0 million of the Company’s common stock between that date and August 31, 2024.  As of December 31, 2022, $5.0 million remained available for repurchase under this new program.    

On April 11, 2022, we entered into an agreement with two institutional shareholders of the Company to repurchase 359,500 shares of our common stock, par value $0.0024 in a private transaction. The purchase price was $5.00 per share for a total of $1.8 million. The closing of the repurchases took place on April 22, 2022, and these shares were subsequently cancelled. Prior to the repurchase, the shares represented approximately 4.2% of our outstanding common stock.

On December 8, 2021, we entered into an agreement with an institutional shareholder of the Company, to repurchase 212,690 shares of our common stock, par value $0.0024 in a private transaction. The purchase price was $5.00 per share for a total of $1.1 million. The closing of the repurchase took place on December 16, 2021, and these shares were subsequently cancelled. Prior to the repurchase, the shares represented approximately 2.4% of our outstanding common stock.  These share repurchases were separately authorized by our Board of Directors and did not reduce the remaining amount authorized to be repurchased under the plan described in the previous paragraph.

On January 28, 2021, we entered into an agreement with an institutional shareholder of the Company, to repurchase 500,000 shares of our common stock, par value $0.0024 in a private transaction. The purchase price was $3.35 per share for a total of $1.7 million. The closing of the repurchase of these shares took place on February 1, 2021, and these shares were subsequently cancelled. Prior to the repurchase, the shares represented approximately 5.5% of our outstanding common stock.

The direct share repurchase transactions were separately authorized by our Board of Directors and did not reduce the remaining amount authorized to be repurchased under the plans described above.  In July 2022, the Company repurchased 600 shares of stock under the open market plan.