Employees' Stock Incentive Plans and Management Incentive Plans

3 Months Ended

Jul. 27, 2011

Employees' Stock Incentive Plans and Management Incentive Plans [Abstract]

Employees' Stock Incentive Plans and Management Incentive Plans

(6)   Employees’ Stock Incentive Plans and Management Incentive Plans

At July 27, 2011, the Company had outstanding stock option awards, restricted stock units and restricted stock awards issued pursuant to various shareholder-approved plans and a shareholder-authorized employee stock purchase plan, as described on pages 62 to 67 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 27, 2011. The compensation cost related to these plans recognized in SG&A and the related tax benefit were $6.0 million and $1.7 million for the first quarter ended July 27, 2011, and $5.2 million and $1.6 million for the first quarter ended July 28, 2010, respectively.

In the first quarter of Fiscal 2012, the Company granted performance awards as permitted in the Fiscal Year 2003 Stock Incentive Plan, subject to the achievement of certain performance goals. These performance awards are tied to the Company’s relative Total Shareholder Return (“Relative TSR”) Ranking within the defined Long-term Performance Program (“LTPP”) peer group and the 2-year average after-tax Return on Invested Capital (“ROIC”) metrics. The Relative TSR metric is based on the two-year cumulative return to shareholders from the change in stock price and dividends paid between the starting and ending dates. The starting value was based on the average of each LTPP peer group company stock price for the 60 trading days prior to and including April 27, 2011. The ending value will be based on the average stock price for the 60 trading days prior to and including the close of the Fiscal 2013 year end, plus dividends paid over the 2 year performance period. The compensation cost related to LTPP awards recognized in SG&A was $5.6 million, with the related tax benefit of $1.9 million for the first quarter ended July 27, 2011. The compensation cost related to LTPP awards recognized in SG&A was $2.8 million, with the related tax benefit of $0.9 million for the first quarter ended July 28, 2010.