DroneShield Limited (ASX:DRO), a company providing AI-based platforms for protection against advanced threats such as drones and autonomous systems, has announced that 9,224,361 performance options have vested. This is due to the company achieving the required milestone of $200 million in cash receipts within a rolling 12-month period. The vesting options were granted to incentivise employees when the company’s sales were significantly lower than current levels.
The vested options are held by employees, including the CEO who holds 709,361 of the total vested options. No options are held by Non-Executive Directors. Shareholder approval was previously obtained for the CEO’s options at the Annual General Meeting on 28 May 2025. The remaining options were granted in February 2025 under the Incentive Option Plan, which was approved by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting held on 19 April 2023.
DroneShield’s auditor, HLB Mann Judd, has verified the achievement of the cash receipts performance hurdle for the period from 2 April 2025 to 13 January 2026. If all 9,224,361 performance options are exercised, the company’s capital structure will include 923,142,028 fully paid ordinary shares, 269,000 exercise price options, and 6,998,167 performance options, resulting in 930,409,195 fully diluted shares on issue. A total of 995,000 previously issued performance options remain unvested.
To maintain alignment with shareholders, DroneShield introduced an enhanced incentive framework on 4 November 2025. This framework includes tiered hurdles for performance options, with vesting tranches at $300 million, $400 million, and $500 million in revenue or cash receipts over a rolling 12-month period. The share option non-cash expense for the year ended 2025 totalled $23.5 million. This announcement has been approved for release to the ASX by the Board.
