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Share-Based Compensation
9 Months Ended
May 31, 2020
Share Based Compensation [Abstract]  
Share-based Compensation

Note 8 - Share-Based Compensation

In the first quarter of fiscal 2020, as part of the annual awards under the Company’s Long-Term Incentive Plan, the Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors (“Compensation Committee”) granted 337,700 performance share awards to the Company’s key employees and officers under the Company’s 1993 Amended and Restated Stock Incentive Plan (“SIP”).

Awards vest if the threshold level under the specified metric is met at the end of the approximately three-year performance period. For awards granted in the first quarter of fiscal 2020, the performance metrics were the Company’s total shareholder return (“TSR”) relative to a designated peer group of 15 companies and the Company’s return on capital employed (“ROCE”). Award share payouts depend on the extent to which the performance goals have been achieved. The number of shares that a participant receives is equal to the number of performance shares granted multiplied by a payout factor, which ranges from a threshold of 50% to a maximum of 200%.

 

The Company granted 165,834 performance share awards based on its relative TSR metric over a performance period spanning November 14, 2019 to August 31, 2022. The Company estimates the fair value of TSR awards using a Monte-Carlo simulation model utilizing several key assumptions, including the following for TSR awards granted on November 14, 2019:

 

 

 

Percentage

 

Expected share price volatility (SSI)

 

 

38.9

%

Expected share price volatility (Peer group)

 

 

44.5

%

Expected correlation to peer group companies

 

 

34.3

%

Risk-free rate of return

 

 

1.58

%

The estimated fair value of the TSR awards at the date of grant was $4 million. The TSR award stipulates certain limitations to the payout in the event the payout reaches a defined ceiling level or the Company’s TSR is negative. The compensation expense for the TSR awards based on the grant-date fair value, net of estimated forfeitures, is recognized over the requisite service period (or to the date a qualifying employment termination event entitles the recipient to a prorated award, if before the end of the service period), regardless of whether the market condition has been or will be satisfied.

The Company granted 171,936 performance share awards based on its ROCE for the three-year performance period consisting of the Company’s 2020, 2021 and 2022 fiscal years. The fair value of the awards granted was based on the market closing price of the underlying Class A common stock on the grant date and totaled $4 million.

The Company accrues compensation cost for ROCE awards based on the probable outcome of achieving specified performance conditions, net of estimated forfeitures, over the requisite service period (or to the date a qualifying employment termination event entitles the recipient to a prorated award, if before the end of the service period). The Company reassesses whether achievement of the performance conditions is probable at each reporting date. If it is probable that the actual performance results will exceed the stated target performance conditions, the Company accrues additional compensation cost for the additional performance shares to be awarded. If, upon reassessment, it is no longer probable that the actual performance results will exceed the stated target performance conditions, or that it is no longer probable that the target performance conditions will be achieved, the Company reverses any recognized compensation cost for shares no longer probable of being issued. If the performance conditions are not achieved at the end of the service period, all related compensation cost previously recognized is reversed.

The performance share awards described above will be paid in Class A common stock as soon as practicable after the end of the requisite service period and vesting date of October 31, 2022.

In the second quarter of fiscal 2020, the Company granted deferred stock units (“DSUs”) to each of its non-employee directors under the Company’s SIP. Each DSU gives the director the right to receive one share of Class A common stock at a future date. The grant included an aggregate of 41,592 shares that will vest in full on the day before the Company’s 2021 annual meeting of shareholders, subject to continued Board service. The total fair value of these awards at the grant date was $1 million.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2020, under the Company’s Long-Term Incentive Plan, the Compensation Committee granted 470,917 restricted stock units (“RSUs”) to the Company’s key employees and officers under the SIP. The RSUs have a five-year term and vest 20% per year commencing on April 30, 2021. The aggregate fair value of all the RSUs granted was based on the market closing price of the underlying Class A common stock on the grant date and totaled $7 million. The compensation expense associated with these RSUs is recognized over the requisite service period of the awards, net of forfeitures, which for participants who were retirement eligible as of the grant date or who will become retirement eligible during the five-year term of the award is the longer of two years or the period ending on the date retirement eligibility is achieved.