EXHIBIT 10 (l)
ALBERTO-CULVER
COMPANY
2006 SHAREHOLDER VALUE INCENTIVE
PLAN
I.
GENERAL
1.1
Purpose of the SVIP
The 2006 Shareholder Value Incentive
Plan (“SVIP”) of the Alberto-Culver Company
(“Company”) is intended to advance the best interests
of the Company by providing key salaried employees who have
substantial responsibility for the Company’s management and
growth with additional incentives through the grant of awards based
upon Total Shareholder Return as defined in Section 1.2(o),
thereby: (1) more closely linking the interests of key
salaried employees with shareholders, (2) increasing the
personal stake of such key salaried employees in the continued
success and growth of the Company, and (3) encouraging them to
remain in the employ of the Company. At the time of approval by the
stockholders of the Company, the name of the Company was New
Aristotle Holdings, Inc. Following the time of approval, the name
of the Company will be changed to Alberto-Culver
Company.
1.2
Definitions
The following definitions apply with
respect to the SVIP:
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(a)
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“Change in Control”
shall have the meaning assigned to such term in
Section 3.8(b).
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(b)
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“Committee” shall
mean the Compensation and Leadership Development Committee of the
Board of Directors of the Company or, if any member of the
Compensation and Leadership Development Committee is not
(i) an “outside director” within the meaning of
Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the
rules and regulations thereunder (the “Code”) or
(ii) a “non-employee director” within the meaning
of Section 16 (“Section 16”) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules and regulations thereunder
(“Exchange Act”), the Committee shall set up a
subcommittee comprised solely of outside directors and non-employee
directors for purposes of all matters arising under this SVIP
involving “officers” within the meaning of Rule
16a-1(f) under Section 16 (“Executive Officers”)
and Covered Employees as defined herein.
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(c)
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Intentionally Omitted
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(d)
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“Common Stock” shall
mean the Common Stock of the Company, $.01 par value.
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(e)
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“Covered Employee”
shall mean a Participant who is a “covered employee”
within the meaning of Section 162(m) of the Code during the
plan year at issue.
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(f)
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“Disability” shall
have the meaning provided in the Company’s applicable
disability plan or, in the absence of such a definition, when a
Participant becomes totally
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disabled as determined by a
physician mutually acceptable to the Participant and the Committee
before attaining his or her 65th birthday and if such total
disability continues for more than three months. Disability does
not include any condition which is intentionally self-inflicted or
caused by illegal acts of the Participant.
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(g)
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“Exempt Person” and
“Exempt Persons” shall have the meaning assigned to
such terms in Section 3.8(c).
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(h)
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“Incumbent Board”
shall have the meaning assigned to such term in
Section 3.8(d).
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(i)
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“Ownership Threshold”
shall mean the dollar value of the ownership guideline of the
Common Stock for each Participant as set by the Committee from time
to time. In determining such ownership for each Participant, the
Committee may conclusively rely on the books and records of the
Company.
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(j)
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“Participant” shall
have the meaning assigned to it in Section 1.4.
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(k)
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“Performance Period”
shall mean any one, two or three consecutive fiscal years as set
forth in the Participant’s Performance Unit Agreement, unless
accelerated pursuant to Section 3.8.
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(l)
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“Performance Unit”
shall have the meaning assigned to it in
Section 2.1(a).
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(m)
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“Performance Unit
Agreement” shall have the meaning assigned to it in
Section 2.1(b).
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(n)
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“Retirement” shall be
reached when a Participant’s employment terminates and at the
time of such termination the sum of such Participant’s age
and years of service as an employee of the Company or any of its
subsidiaries equals or exceeds 75 years.
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(o)
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“Total Shareholder
Return” or “TSR” means the percentage by which
the ending per share price of common stock (determined as the
average closing price for the ten trading days prior to and
including the last date of the applicable Performance Period), as
adjusted for any stock split, reclassification, or other
recapitalization, plus reinvested dividends, exceeds the beginning
per share price of the common stock (determined as the average
closing price for the ten trading days prior to and including the
first date of the applicable Performance Period). For purposes of
the Company, TSR shall be computed using the Common
Stock.
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1.3
Administration of the SVIP
The SVIP shall be administered by
the Committee. The Committee shall have full and final authority in
its discretion to interpret conclusively the provisions of the
SVIP, to adopt such rules and regulations for carrying out the SVIP
and to make all other determinations necessary or advisable for the
administration of the SVIP. No member of the Committee shall be
liable for any
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action or determination made in good faith with
respect to the SVIP or any Performance Unit thereunder.
The Committee shall meet at least
once each fiscal year, and at such additional times as it may
determine to designate the eligible employees, if any, to be
granted Performance Units under the SVIP, the amount of such
Performance Units and the time when Performance Units will be
granted. All Performance Units granted under the SVIP shall be on
the terms and subject to the conditions hereinafter
provided.
1.4
Eligible Participants
Key salaried employees of the
Company and its subsidiaries as determined by the Committee shall
be eligible to participate in the SVIP (any employee receiving a
Performance Unit under the SVIP hereinafter referred to as a
“Participant”).
1.5
Limitation on Grants
The maximum amount payable under the
SVIP to a single Participant may not exceed $4.0 million per
Performance Period.
II. PERFORMANCE
UNITS
2.1 Terms
and Conditions of Grants
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(a)
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Performance Units may be granted
to Participants prior to or within the first ninety (90) days
following the beginning of a Performance Period. Each Performance
Unit shall have a target value at the time of the grant of $1,000.
Except as provided in the following sentence, each Participant
shall be eligible, in his or her sole discretion, to receive such
Participant’s award in cash or shares of Common Stock or a
combination thereof as set forth in Section 2.2, payable in
each case following the end of a Performance Period, if the
objectives established by the Committee, as set forth below, have
been attained (unless the Committee, pursuant to
Section 2.1(c), determines that no award will be payable
because the Company’s TSR is negative for that Performance
Period). Participants owning less than their Ownership Threshold
shall be required to receive 100% of their award in Common Stock
(each, a “Required Election”). Notwithstanding anything
to the contrary contained in this Section 2.1(a), each
Participant shall be eligible to receive an award (payable only in
cash) in the event of a Change in Control at such time as set forth
in Section 3.8, if the Common Stock has met the objectives
established by the Committee as set forth below.
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(b)
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At the time Performance Units are
granted to Participants, the Committee shall establish objectives
based on (i) the percentile rank of the Common Stock of the
Company measured by Total Shareholder Return among the companies
comprising the (a) Standard & Poor’s 500 Index,
(b) Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400 Index,
(c) Standard & Poor’s Small Cap 600 Index,
(d) Standard & Poor’s Super Composite 1500
Index, (e) Russell 3000 Index, or (f) Russell 2000 Index
(The index chosen by the Committee for a particular Performance
Period shall be referred to as the “Applicable Index”),
(ii) operating earnings, (iii) operating
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earnings margin,
(iv) pre-tax earnings, (v) pre-tax earnings margin,
(vi) net earnings, (vii) net earnings margin,
(viii) net earnings per share, (ix) sales,
(x) pre-tax return on invested capital, (xi) gross
profit, (xii) return on assets, (xiii) pre-tax return on
equity, (xiv) gross profit margin, (xv) post-tax return
on invested capital, (xvi) post-tax return on equity, and
(xvii) working capital. In addition, the Committee shall
establish a matrix to determine the awards payable to Participants
upon attainment of these objectives. Within 90 days following the
beginning of a Performance Period, each Participant shall receive
an agreement which shall set forth the Performance Period, the
number of Performance Units granted and the objectives and matrix
established by the Committee (hereinafter referred to as a
“Performance Unit Agreement”). For purposes of the
SVIP, “operating earnings” will mean pre-tax earnings
before non-recurring and other unusual items reported separately in
the Company’s income statement.
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(c)
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No award will be payable if the
objective is Total Shareholder Return and the Company’s TSR
as a percentile among the Applicable Index companies is less than
the 40 th percentile. If the objective is
Total Shareholder Return and the Company’s TSR is negative,
the Committee may, in its discretion, not pay any award or reduce
an award otherwise payable, notwithstanding the fact that the
Company’s TSR as a percentile among the Applicable Index
companies is equal to or greater than the 40
th
percentile. If the
attainment of the objective is not specifically shown in the matrix
established by the Committee and set forth in the Performance Unit
Agreement the amount of the award shall be calculated by
interpolating between the amounts shown. The maximum award payable
per unit is 200% of the target value, subject to the limitations
set forth in Section 1.5.
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(d)
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At the end of each Performance
Period, or earlier pursuant to Section 3.8(a) in the event of
a Change in Control the Committee shall certify the Company’s
attainment of the objectives established by the Committee for each
Performance Period or, in the event of a Change in Control, the
elapsed portion of the Performance Period in which such Change in
Control shall have occurred. No award may be paid to Covered
Employees under this SVIP until the Committee has made such
certification.
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2.2
Payment
Awards approved by the Committee
will be distributed on or before the 15th day of the third month
following the end of the Performance Period or, in the event of a
Change in Control, within 30 days following such Change in Control
(but in the event of a Change in Control, such award shall be
payable only in cash). Awards payable, in whole or in part, in
Common Stock shall be the number of shares of Common Stock that a
Participant could have purchased at the ending per share price of
the Common Stock as calculated pursuant to Section 1.2(o) had
such Participant used the relevant percentage (pursu
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