The Board of Directors of Valmet has decided to continue the share based incentive program for Valmet's key employees approved in December 2014. The aim of the program is to combine the objectives of the shareholders and the key employees in order to increase the value of the company, to commit the key employees to Valmet, and to offer them a competitive reward plan based on holding the company's shares.

The program approved in 2014 includes three discretionary periods, which are the calendar years 2015, 2016 and 2017. The Board of Directors of Valmet shall decide on the performance criteria and targets in the beginning of each discretionary period. The potential reward of the program from the discretionary period 2017 is based on Comparable EBITA % and orders received growth % of the stable business, that is, the Services and Automation business lines. The potential reward of the plan from the discretionary period 2017 will be paid partly as Valmet shares and partly in cash in 2018. The proportion to be paid in cash is intended to cover taxes and tax-related costs arising from the reward to the key employee. As a rule, no reward is paid, if the key employee's employment or service ends before the reward payment.

As part of the share based incentive program members of the Valmet Executive Team shall have a possibility to receive a matching share reward for the discretionary period 2017 provided that he or she owns or acquires Valmet shares up to a number determined by the Board of Directors by December 31, 2017. Reward receipt is tied to the continued employment or service of the Valmet Executive Team member upon reward payment.

The reward of the plan may not exceed 120 percent of the key employee's annual total base salary. The shares paid as reward may not be transferred during the restriction period, which will end two years from the end of the discretionary period. Should a key employee's employment or service end during the restriction period, as a rule, he or she must gratuitously return the shares given as reward to Valmet.

The plan is directed to approximately 80 key employees. The rewards to be paid on the basis of the plan are in total an approximate maximum of 550,000 shares in Valmet.

Valmet is the leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. We aim to become the global champion in serving our customers.

Valmet's strong technology offering includes pulp mills, tissue, board and paper production lines, as well as power plants for bioenergy production. Our advanced services and automation solutions improve the reliability and performance of our customers' processes and enhance the effective utilization of raw materials and energy. 

Valmet's net sales in 2015 were approximately EUR 2.9 billion. Our 12,000 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers' performance forward - every day. Valmet's head office is in Espoo, Finland and its shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki.