Stock Compensation Plans

A stock compensation plan was created and adopted by the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) on October 3, 2014. The Kimball Electronics, Inc. 2014 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) allows for the issuance of up to 4.5 million shares and may be awarded in the form of incentive stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted shares, unrestricted shares, restricted share units, or performance shares and performance units. The Plan is a ten-year plan with no further awards allowed to be made under the Plan after October 1, 2024.

Prior to the spin-off, former Parent maintained stock compensation plans in which our executives and certain key employees participated. All awards granted under the former Parent plans were based on former Parent’s Common Stock. Performance share awards issued and outstanding to Kimball Electronics employees under the former Parent plans as of the spin-off date were amended, in accordance with the terms of the plans, to provide an equitable adjustment as a result of the spin-off.

On October 20, 2016, the Board approved a nonqualified deferred stock compensation plan, the Kimball Electronics, Inc. Non-Employee Directors Stock Compensation Deferral Plan (the “Deferral Plan”), which allows Non-Employee Directors to elect to defer all, or a portion of, their retainer fees in stock until retirement or termination from the Board or death. The Deferral Plan allows for issuance of up to 1.0 million shares of the Company’s common stock.

Pre-tax stock compensation charged against income in fiscal years 2017, 2016, and 2015 was $3.5 million, $3.4 million, and $3.5 million, respectively, including $1.8 million allocated to us by former Parent prior to the spin-off. These costs are primarily included in Selling and Administrative Expenses.

Performance Shares:

The Company awards performance shares to officers and other key employees. Under these awards granted prior to fiscal year 2016, a number of shares will be issued to each participant based upon the attainment of the applicable bonus percentage calculated under the Company’s profit sharing incentive bonus plan as applied to a total potential share award made and approved by the Compensation and Governance Committee of the Board. Under these awards granted in and subsequent to fiscal year 2016, a number of shares will be issued to each participant based upon a combination of the bonus percentage attainment component above, adjusted to a three-year average bonus percentage, and a growth attainment component, which is the Company’s growth in sales revenue based on comparison of its three-year compounded annual growth rate (“CAGR”) with the Electronics Manufacturing Services Industry’s three-year CAGR.

Performance shares are vested when shares of the Company’s Common Stock are issued shortly after the end of the fiscal year in which the performance measurement period is complete. Certain outstanding performance shares are applicable to performance measurement periods in future fiscal years and will be measured at fair value when the performance targets are established in future fiscal years. The contractual life of performance shares ranges from one year to five years. If a participant is not employed on the date shares are issued, the performance share award is forfeited, except in the case of death, retirement at age 62 or older, total permanent disability, or certain other circumstances described in the Plan.

On December 2, 2014, Performance Share Awards issued and outstanding to Kimball Electronics employees under the former Parent plans were amended, in accordance with the terms of the plans, to provide an equitable adjustment as a result of the spin-off. The awards have been or will be granted in shares of the Company’s Common Stock, instead of Kimball International, Inc. shares, under the Kimball Electronics Plan. The amended awards retained the same terms and conditions and vesting schedule, issuance dates, and expiration dates of the original Kimball International awards.

A summary of the Company’s performance share activity during fiscal year 2017 is presented below:



	Number of Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Performance shares outstanding at July 1, 2016	804,391		$	11.21
Granted	—		$	—
Vested	(194,624	)	$	10.42
Forfeited	(6,653	)	$	11.80
Performance shares outstanding at June 30, 2017	603,114		$	11.46

As of June 30, 2017, there was approximately $4.4 million of unrecognized compensation cost related to performance shares, based on the latest estimated attainment of performance goals. That cost is expected to be recognized over annual performance periods ending August 2017 through August 2019, with a weighted average vesting period of eleven months. The fair value of performance shares is based on the stock price at the date of grant. No performance shares were awarded during fiscal year 2017 as the Company changed the timing of when it awards performance shares from June to August to align the grant and vesting dates. During fiscal year 2017 and 2016, respectively, 194,624 and 279,923 performance shares vested at a fair value of $2.0 million and $2.7 million. The performance shares vested represent the total number of shares vested prior to the reduction of shares withheld to satisfy tax withholding obligations. No Kimball Electronics performance shares vested during fiscal year 2015. The number of shares presented in the above table, the amounts of unrecognized compensation, and the weighted average period include performance shares awarded that are applicable to future performance measurement periods and will be measured at fair value when the performance targets are established in future fiscal years.

Unrestricted Share Grants:

Unrestricted shares may be granted to employees and members of the Board as consideration for services rendered. Unrestricted share grants do not have vesting periods, holding periods, restrictions on sale, or other restrictions. The fair value of unrestricted shares is based on the stock price at the date of the award. During fiscal year 2017, 2016, and 2015 respectively, the Company granted a total of 10,477, 47,262, and 28,700 unrestricted shares at an average grant date fair value of $15.75, $10.94, and $10.76 for a total fair value of $0.2 million, $0.5 million, and $0.3 million. Unrestricted shares were awarded to non-employee members of the Board as compensation for director’s fees, including directors’ elections to receive unrestricted shares in lieu of cash payment. Director’s fees are expensed over the period that directors earn the compensation.

Deferred Share Units:

Deferred share units may be granted to non-employee members of the Board under the Deferral Plan as compensation for the portion of their annual retainer fees resulting from their election to receive deferred share units in lieu of cash payment or unrestricted shares. Director’s fees are expensed over the period that directors earn the compensation. Deferred share units are participating securities and are payable in common stock upon a director’s retirement or termination from the Board or death. During fiscal year 2017, 19,207 deferred share units were granted to non-employee members of the Board at an average grant date fair value of $15.79 for a total fair value of $0.3 million.