News Article
Sunovia terminates stock options with ex CEO
The company has terminated the Stock Option Agreement dated December 20, 2005 and has changed its fiscal year date.
Sunovia Energy Technologies, a clean-tech company specialising in LED lighting and solar technologyhas changed its fiscal year from July 31 to December 31.
The change was effective from December 31, 2010 and was approved by the Board of Directors on February 9, 2011. The firm has also modified certain contracts with its founders and their affiliates.
"This change will simplify our financial and public reporting," said CEO Art Buckland of the move. "We are improving our processes and procedures at all levels of the Company, in all aspects of the business. This is just one example of an area where a simple change will bring the Company forward in that effort."
The Company will file an Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010 and will commence quarterly reporting on the new calendar quarter in the first quarter of this year.
The Company also announced the termination of the Stock Option Agreement dated December 20, 2005, as amended and assigned, between the Company and Craca Properties, an affiliated company of Carl L. Smith, III, former CEO and a founder of the Company.
As disclosed in prior reports of the Company, the Option provided Craca Properties the right to acquire 500,000,000 shares of common stock of the Company at an exercise price of $.10 per share.
"Termination of the option allows the Company to provide incentives to employees through stock options in a more meaningful way," Buckland said. "This is an important step to motivating our employees to work hard through the challenges ahead. It is equally important to our effort to position the Company for additional investment."
Smith agrees that the strategy and the result are critical to the Company's success. "We need to keep our team motivated, and we need to be positioned to raise capital," he noted. "When it was granted, this option was primarily intended to be a defensive weapon if an unwanted takeover occurred. That is not a significant concern at this stage of the Company's progress."
Smith and the Company also agreed to terminate the Royalty Agreement dated as of December 20, 2005 between Sparx (an entity controlled by Smith) and Sologic (a predecessor in interest to the Company).
Smith and the Company further agreed that Smith would return to the Company a portion of the shares committed by him in 2008 to be cancelled to reduce dilution from the issuance of stock to EPIR. As previously disclosed, Smith committed to cancel 4,495,000 shares at that time. A portion of the shares that would otherwise be returned to the Company as a result of this cancellation have been issued in settlement of certain consulting fees. The Company anticipates that approximately 3 million shares will be cancelled as a result of this transaction.
With these agreements, the Company and Smith have fulfilled or cancelled the contractual obligations between them and their related entities.
The Company and two of its officers, Matthew A. Veal, Chief Financial Officer, and Robert A. Fugerer, Chief Technology Officer, have mutually agreed to terminate the employment contracts between them. Both Veal and. Fugerer remain employed in those capacities.
"We are moving away from employment contracts for employees other than our CEO," said Tom Siegfried, an independent director of Sunovia. "The leadership of these officers in voluntarily cancelling their employment contracts is commendable and a sign of commitment to the Company and its long-term goals."
