SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

9 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

12.	SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

SHARE-BASED PLANS

ePlus’ 2021 Employee Long-Term Incentive Plan (“2021 Employee LTIP”) was approved by our shareholders on September 16, 2021. The 2021 Employee LTIP is effective October 1, 2021 and replaces the ePlus inc. 2012 Employee Long-Term Incentive Plan (“2012 Employee LTIP”), as approved by our stockholders on September 13, 2012. Beginning September 15, 2021, we permanently ceased issuing any additional shares under the 2012 Employee LTIP.

As of December 31, 2021, we had share-based awards outstanding under the following plans: (1) the 2017 Non-Employee Director Long-Term Incentive Plan (“2017 Director LTIP”), and (2) the 2012 Employee LTIP.

These share-based plans define fair market value as the closing sales price of a share of common stock as quoted on any established stock exchange for such date or the most recent trading day preceding such date if there were no trades on such date.

RESTRICTED STOCK ACTIVITY

For the nine months ended December 31, 2021, adjusted for the stock split, we granted 13,562 shares under the 2017 Director LTIP, and 155,722 restricted shares under the 2012 Employee LTIP. For the nine months ended December 31, 2020, retroactively restated for the stock split, we granted 19,742 shares under the 2017 Director LTIP, and 179,746 restricted shares under the 2012 Employee LTIP. A summary of our restricted stock activity, reflecting the stock split, is as follows:

	Number of Shares			Weighted Average Grant-date Fair Value

Nonvested April 1, 2021		366,756		$	37.49
Granted		169,284		$	46.52
Vested		(184,962	)	$	39.12
Forfeited		(6,106	)	$	40.57
Nonvested December 31, 2021		344,972

Upon each vesting period of the restricted stock awards, employees are subject to minimum tax withholding obligations. Under the 2012 Employee LTIP, we purchased enough shares due to participants to satisfy the minimum tax withholding requirements on employee stock awards. For the nine months ended December 31, 2021, adjusted for the stock split, we withheld 55,430 shares of common stock at a value of $2.6 million, which was included in treasury stock and retired on November 10, 2021.

COMPENSATION EXPENSE

We recognize compensation cost for awards of restricted stock with graded vesting on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period. There are no additional conditions for vesting other than service conditions. Share-based compensation expense for both the three and nine months ended December 31, 2021, and 2020, were $1.8 million and $5.4 million, respectively. Unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested restricted stock was $10.4 million as of December 31, 2021, which will be fully recognized over the next 30 months.

We also provide our employees with a contributory 401(k) profit sharing plan, to which we may contribute from time to time at our sole discretion. Employer contributions to the plan are always fully vested. Our estimated contribution expense for the plan for the three months ended December 31, 2021, and 2020, was $0.8 million and $0.9 million, respectively. For the nine months ended December 31, 2021, and 2020, our estimated contribution expense for the plan was $2.6 million and $2.2 million, respectively.