10. Share-Based Compensation

Amended and Restated enGene Holdings Inc. 2023 Incentive Equity Plan

The Company's Amended and Restated enGene Holdings Inc. 2023 Incentive Equity Plan (the "2023 Plan") was adopted on May 15, 2024 and superseded all prior plans. The 2023 Plan is administered by the Board or, at the discretion of the Board, by a committee of the Board, (the "Committee"). The exercise prices, vesting and other restrictions are determined at the discretion of the Board, or its committee if so delegated, except that the exercise price per share of stock options may not be less than 100% of the fair market value

of the Common Shares on the date of grant and the term of stock option may not be greater than ten years. Common Shares that are expired, terminated, surrendered or cancelled under the 2023 Plan without having been fully exercised will be available for future awards. The Plan authorizes the award of incentive stock options, or ISOs, non-qualified stock options, or NQSOs, Stock Units, Stock Appreciation Rights, or SARs, and other share-based awards including performance awards and share bonus awards. The Plan contains the evergreen provision (the "Evergreen Provision") pursuant to which on the first business day of each calendar year, the aggregate number of Common Shares that could be issued or transferred thereunder (the "Plan Share Reserve") and the number of Common Shares available for options intended to qualify as incentive stock options (the "ISO Sublimit") each increase by such number of Common Shares as equals 5% of the aggregate number of Common Shares outstanding on the final day of the immediately preceding calendar year (or such smaller number of shares as is determined by the compensation committee), and the ISO Sublimit by the lesser of 2,500,000 Common Shares and the increase in the Plan Share Reserve (or such smaller number of shares may be determined by the compensation committee of the Company’s board of directors). On January 2, 2025 the Committee allowed the full 5% increase for 2025 under the Evergreen Provision.

As of October 31, 2025, inclusive of (i) the common shares subject to the outstanding grants under the prior plans, and (ii) 2,548,833 Common Shares added on January 2, 2025 under the Evergreen Provision, there were 8,651,209 of Common Shares reserved for issuance under the Plan and there are 2,933,304 shares remaining for issuance.

2025 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

On June 10, 2025, at its 2025 Annual General Meeting of shareholders, the shareholders of enGene Holdings Inc. approved the adoption of the 2025 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the "ESPP”), pursuant to which 2,000,000 common shares of the Company, no par value, were reserved for issuance. The price of common shares purchased under the ESPP is equal to 85% of the lower of the fair market value of the common shares on the first trading day of the offering period or the relevant purchase date and is subject to change by a Plan Administrator prior to each purchase period. As of October 31, 2025, there were no shares issued and 2,000,000 shares remained available for issuance.

Inducement Grants

The Company may grant inducement equity award consisting of a non-qualified stock option to purchase Common Shares to newly hired employees as an inducement material to the employee's entering into employment with the Company, in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), which, if made, are granted outside of the 2023 Plan. During year ended October 31, 2025, the Company issued options to purchase an aggregate of 1,709,550 Common Shares to certain new hire employees at a weighted-average exercise price of $5.59 per share. The options awarded have an exercise price equal to the closing stock price of the Company on the date of the grant and vest over four years, with 25% of the underlying shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of the grant date and the remainder vesting in equal amounts monthly for three years thereafter, subject continued service as an employee. The options have a term of 10 years from the date of the grant. During the year ended October 31, 2024, the Company issued options to purchase an aggregate of 1,643,000 Common Shares to certain new hire employees at a weighted-average exercise price of $8.69 per share.

As of October 31, 2025, 493,851 of the inducement grant stock options have vested, 37,200 have been forfeited and none have expired, and, other than forfeited options, all options remain outstanding.

As of October 31, 2025, and 2024, the Company has reserved the following Common Shares for the exercise of Common Share warrants, share options, and remaining shares reserved for future issuance under the 2023 Plan and options granted outside of the 2023 Plan as part of the inducement grants:

 

 

October 31,

 

 

October 31,

 

 

2025

 

 

2024

 

Warrants to purchase common shares

 

 

8,511,968

 

 

 

8,511,968

 

Incentive options to purchase common shares awarded pursuant to the 2023 Plan

 

 

5,717,948

 

 

 

4,391,512

 

Inducement grant stock options awarded outside of the 2023 Plan

 

 

3,315,350

 

 

 

1,643,000

 

Remaining shares reserved for future issuance under
   the 2023 Plan

 

 

2,933,304

 

 

 

2,752,889

 

Remaining shares reserved for future issuance under ESPP

 

 

2,000,000

 

 

 

 

Total

 

 

22,478,570

 

 

 

17,299,369

 

 

Stock Options

The assumptions that the Company used to determine the grant-date fair value of stock options during the years ended October 31, 2025 and 2024, were as follows:

 

Year ended October 31,

 

 

2025

 

 

2024

 

 

Expected term (in years)

 

5.5-6.08

 

 

5.51 - 6.08

 

 

Expected volatility

 

78.78-83.53%

 

 

78.24 - 82.33%

 

 

Risk-free interest rate

 

3.84-4.49%

 

 

1.78 - 4.66%

 

 

Expected dividend yield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fair value of common shares and exercise price of options (USD)

$

3.31-7.39

 

$

4.73 - 12.60

 

 

 

The following table summarizes the Company’s stock option activity:

 

 

Number of
Shares

 

 

Weighted-
Average
Exercise
Price (USD)

 

 

Weighted-
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Term (in years)

 

 

Aggregate
Intrinsic
Value

 

Outstanding as of October 31, 2024

 

 

6,034,512

 

 

$

6.88

 

 

 

7.4

 

 

$

17,809

 

Granted

 

 

4,926,875

 

 

 

6.41

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercised

 

 

(1,041,982

)

 

 

2.13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forfeited or expired

 

 

(886,107

)

 

 

9.86

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outstanding as of October 31, 2025

 

 

9,033,298

 

 

$

6.93

 

 

 

8.5

 

 

$

10,979

 

Options vested and exercisable as of October 31, 2025

 

 

2,935,183

 

 

$

6.07

 

 

 

7.0

 

 

$

6,497

 

Options unvested as of October 31, 2025

 

 

6,098,115

 

 

$

7.35

 

 

$

9.2

 

 

$

4,482

 

 

The aggregate intrinsic value of share options is calculated as the difference between the exercise price of the share options and the fair value of the Company’s common share as of each reporting date.

The weighted-average grant-date fair value per share of share options granted during the years ended October 31, 2025 and 2024 was $4.62 and $7.30, respectively.

Modification of Employment Agreements

On February 13, 2024, the Company entered into a Transition and Modified Employment Agreement (the “Transition Agreement”) with the Company's former Chief Executive Officer, Jason Hanson, which amends and modifies the CEO's Employment Agreement

dated November 8, 2023 (the “Amended Employment Agreement”). Under the terms of the Amended Employment Agreement Mr. Hanson will be entitled to:

(i)
twelve months of continued health insurance benefits;
(ii)
payment of a 2024 target annual bonus in the amount of $390,000, less applicable taxes and withholdings;
(iii)
acceleration and vesting of any then unvested time-based equity awards that would have vested in the twelve-month period following such termination; and
(iv)
extension of the period to exercise his vested equity awards to three years following the later of date of termination of his employment or the date of termination of the Consulting Period (as defined below), but in no event shall the post-termination exercise period of the CEO’s vested equity awards extend beyond the respective applicable term thereof.

The Transition Agreement further provided that, in the event Mr. Hanson were to resign upon the appointment by the Company of a new chief executive officer, Mr. Hanson would be immediately engaged in a consulting role to provide transition services as a Senior Strategic Advisor to the Company for a period of at least six months following the effective date of resignation (the “Consulting Period”) in exchange for a monthly fee of $25,000 for the initial six-month Consulting Period, and $500 per hour thereafter, provided that Mr. Hanson need not devote more than fifteen (15) hours per week to providing such transition services.

Under the Transition Agreement, the 1,216,266 stock option awards issued to Mr. Hanson were modified to allow for an extended exercise period as described above. The modification resulted in an incremental share-based compensation expense of $1.0 million which was recorded upon the effective date of the Transition Agreement.

Mr. Hanson resigned effective as of July 19, 2024 in connection with the Company’s appointment of a new chief executive officer. On July 20, 2024, enGene appointed Ronald H. W. Cooper as Chief Executive Officer of the Company and as director of the Company's Board of Directors.

Additionally, in 2024, the Company entered into a Severance Agreement with each of three former employees, including the former Chief Medical Officer and the former Chief Scientific Officer. Under the terms of Severance Agreement, the employees are entitled to twelve months of continued pay and health insurance benefits; a payment of a 2024 target annual bonus prorated through the last day of employment, acceleration and vesting of any then unvested time-based equity awards that would have vested in the twelve-month period following such termination and an extended expiry period, which resulted in a stock-based compensation modification. Under the terms of the agreements, 231,684 stock option awards were modified to allow for an extended exercise period as described above. As of October 31, 2024, the Company recognized incremental stock-based compensation expense of $0.3 million related to the severance agreements.

Share-based Compensation Expense

Share-based compensation expense included in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss was as follows:

 

 

Year Ended October 31,

 

 

2025

 

 

2024

 

Research and development

 

$

3,282

 

 

$

1,794

 

General and administrative

 

 

6,364

 

 

 

3,530

 

Total share-based compensation expense

 

$

9,646

 

 

$

5,324

 

 

As of October 31, 2025, there was $30.7 million of unrecognized compensation, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 3.0 years.

Historical Timeline

Fiscal YearFiled
2025Dec 22, 2025Showing above
2024Dec 19, 2024
2023Jan 29, 2024

About Stock Compensation Disclosures

Stock-based compensation disclosures detail the equity awards granted to employees and executives — including stock options, restricted stock units (RSUs), and performance shares — along with the valuation methods and assumptions used to expense them. This section reveals the true cost of talent retention and the alignment between management incentives and shareholder interests.

Key signals: total unrecognized compensation expense and its expected recognition period signal future earnings headwinds from already-granted awards. For stock options, examine Black-Scholes assumptions — expected volatility, risk-free rate, and expected term — as understating any of these reduces reported compensation expense. Compare stock compensation expense as a percentage of revenue against peers to assess dilution cost. Watch vesting schedules for acceleration clauses tied to change-of-control events. Performance-based awards with undemanding targets may indicate weak governance. Add back stock compensation to operating cash flow to calculate a more conservative free cash flow figure.