Company: OCC
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001437749-25-005577
Chunk: 18

Company: OPTICAL CABLE CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 18
---
 outstanding Common Shares have only increased approximately 17.0% over the last 23 years (or an average of 0.7% per year)--from 7,048,999 shares (split adjusted) as of October 31, 2001 to 8,220,344 shares as of October 31, 2024, with Common Shares purchased and retired during the same period partially offsetting any dilution caused by the Company’s equity awards. |

For burn rate calculation purposes, a summary of the Company’s stock incentive awards made over the last three fiscal years follows:

|                                                                    |     | Fiscal Year |         |     |            |        |     |      |        |
|                                                                    |     |        2024 |         |     |       2023 |        |     | 2022 |        |
|                                                                    |     |             |         |     | -in shares |        |     |      |        |
| Awards to non-employee Directors (1)                               |     |             |  39,960 |     |            | 28,560 |     |      | 27,364 |
| Awards to employees (all vesting based on performance critera) (2) |     |             | 329,850 |     |          ― |        |     |      | 17,500 |
|                                                                    |     |             | 369,810 |     |            | 28,560 |     |      | 44,864 |

| (1) | Common Shares granted to non-employee Directors that fully vest one year after grant. |

| (2) | Common Shares granted to 25 employees in 2024 and 1 employee in 2022 that vest based on the Company meeting specified long-term performance criteria over approximately five years. |

Key Features of the 2017 Stock Incentive Plan

Except for increasing the number of Common Shares available for use, the 2017 Stock Incentive Plan will remain unchanged if the Second Amendment is approved by the shareholders at the annual meeting of shareholders.

Important aspects of the 2017 Plan include:

| ● | The 2017 Plan requires a minimum one-year vesting period for awards to participants—including, employees, non-employee directors, and consultants.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| ● | Historically and generally, the designated performance periods for awards to employees have been four or more years, and the time vesting awards to employees have not been used since fiscal year 2015. Generally