Note 5 - Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share Based Payments

6 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2014

Notes to Financial Statements

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Text Block]

5. Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share Based Payments

The 2009 Stock Incentive Plan (the “

Plan

”), was approved by the Board in June 2009 and approved by the shareholders in September 2009. The Plan replaced the 2000 Option Plan and the Non-employee Director Stock Plan (together, the “

Prior Plans

”).

There are 3,890,708

shares still available for grant at

October

31,

2014

. Awards made under the Plan may take the form of stock options, restricted stock or restricted stock units. Each share issued pursuant to a stock option will

reduce the shares available for grant by one

, and each share issued pursuant to an award of restricted stock or restricted stock units will reduce the shares available for grant by two.

We account for stock-based compensation by estimating the fair value of stock options and restricted stock unit awards granted under the Plan using the market price of a share of our common stock on the date of grant. We recognize this fair value as an operating expense in our consolidated statements of income ratably over the requisite service period using the straight-line method, as adjusted for certain retirement provisions. Additional information regarding the Plan is provided in the Company’s 2009 Proxy Statement.

On

June

7

, 201

3 and June 19, 2013 restricted stock units with respect to a total of 77,650 shares were granted to certain officers and key employees. These awards were granted at no cost to the grantee. These awards will vest on June 7, 2016.

On September 13, 2013, restricted stock units totaling 14,000 shares were granted to the non-employee members of the Board. This award was granted at no cost to the non-employee members of the Board. This award vested on May 1, 2014.

On June 6, 2014, restricted stock units with respect to a total of 91,000 shares were granted to certain officers and key employees. These awards were granted at no cost to the grantee. The fair value of these awards was $6,584. These awards will vest on June 6, 2017.

On September 19, 2014, restricted stock totaling 13,955 shares were granted to the non-employee members of the Board.  This award was granted at no cost to the non-employee members of the Board.  The awards vested immediately upon grant and the fair value was $990 at the time of the grant.

At

October

31,

2014

, options for

564,974

shares (which expire between

2015

and

2021

) were outstanding for the

Plan and

Prior Plans. Information concerning the issuance of stock options under the

Plan and

Prior Plans is presented in the following table:

			Weighted
	Number of		average option
	option shares		exercise price
Outstanding at April 30, 2014		712,024	$	36.73
Granted		—		—
Exercised		147,050		40.54
Forfeited		—		—
Outstanding at October 31, 2014		564,974	$	35.73

At

October

31,

2014

, all outstanding options had an aggregate intrinsic value of

$26,066

and a weighted average remaining contractual life of

5.44

years.

All outstanding options are vested at October 31, 2014.

The vested options totaled

564,974

shares with a weighted average exercise price of

$35.73

per share and a weighted average

remaining contractual life of

5.44

years. The aggregate intrinsic value for the total of all options exercised during the

six

months ended

October

31,

2014

, was

$4,626. The fair value of options vested during the six months ended October 31, 2014 was $6,270.

Information concerning the issuance of restricted stock units under the Plan is presented in the following table:

Unvested at April 30, 2014	148,546
Granted	91,000
Vested	(38,198	)
Forfeited	(8,086	)
Unvested at October 31, 2014	193,262

Total compensation costs recorded for the

six

months ended

October

31,

2014

and

2013

, respectively

,

were

$2,667

a

nd

$2,420

for the stock option

and restricted stock unit

awards. As of

October

31,

2014

, there

were no

unrecognized compensation costs related to the

Plan

for stock options

and $7,878

of unrecognized compensation costs related to restricted stock units

which

are

expected to be recognized ratably through fiscal

2018

.