Company: OCC
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001437749-25-005577
Chunk: 21

Company: OPTICAL CABLE CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 21
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 subsidiaries who are and will be responsible for the Company’s future growth. The Company intends to use Common Shares available in the 2017 Plan to provide the Company’s service providers, including employees, non-employee Directors, and consultants with long-term incentives to align the long-term interest of employees, non-employee Directors, and consultants with those of shareholders, and to enable the Company to attract, motivate, and retain the best available individuals for service to the Company.

Over the course of the last three fiscal years, the Company has issued an average annual total of 147,745 Common Shares per year which is approximately 1.9% of the Company’s weighted average outstanding Common Shares.

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We believe that the Company’s equity usage is consistent with the broader market as well as with our competitors’ executive compensation programs. In addition, we believe that the number of shares available for future grants, as a percentage of total shares outstanding, is low as compared to the broader market and our competitors, thus demonstrating a clear need for us to authorize for issuance an additional 350,000 new shares to make equity compensation awards in the future under the 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

Similar to other companies in our industry, we believe equity compensation is integral to providing a competitive total compensation package necessary to recruit, retain and reward key employees. Equity awards are an essential component of our executive and Director compensation programs, which enable us to attract and retain key talent and to incent that talent to deliver shareholder value. Therefore, it is important that we be able to have the ability to provide long-term incentive awards as a component of the Company’s compensation program. The Company will continue to maintain an appropriate balance between meeting employee hiring, retention, and compensation goals and avoiding excessive shareholder dilution.

It is essential to provide a long-term link between compensation and shareholder value creation and rely on equity compensation as one of the most efficient and effective means to create such a relationship. The Company’s equity incentive program is designed to align the interests of the Company’s executive officers and other key employees with those of shareholders, motivate the executive officers to achieve key financial goals, and reward performance over a multi-year period. The Company has historically utilized restricted share grants to create this link between pay and performance.

If shareholders do not approve the reservation of 350,000 Common Shares under the Plan, our ability to create long-term incentives for key employees and attract and retain new talent for the Company will be diminished.

The remaining material terms and provisions of the