Morrison offered carrot to stay on at SkyCity

NZPA

Thursday 19th May 2011

SkyCity has sped up the grant of shares to chief executive Nigel Morrison under his long term incentive plan to keep him in the job.

The company announced today it had secured Morrison's services for at least another three years by accelerating the share grant.

SkyCity chairman Rod McGeoch said that while the directors knew of no threat to Mr Morrison's tenure, the Australasian gaming sector was in a state of change, and it was thought to be in the interests of the company and its shareholders to offer him the incentives to stay on.

The shares granted to Mr Morrison today had a value of $3.6 million and would be held in trust for three years. Morrison must remain with SkyCity, and the company must achieve a minimum performance hurdle before the shares can be transferred.

No further allocations would be made under the incentive plan to Mr Morrison in 2011, 2012 or 2013.

It was seen as important to ensure Morrison stayed with the company to lead some significant projects in the next few years, such as upgrading VIP gaming spaces in Auckland and proposed extensions to properties in Adelaide and Darwin.

In a statement to the NZX, SkyCity said that under the incentive plan Mr Morrison was able to buy a maximum of 2 million shares in total with the help of an interest free loan. Already $2.4m had been spent buying shares in two allocations.

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