Pointon Nicholas 4

What Happened
Nicholas Pointon, Chief Financial Officer of Arqit Quantum Inc. (ARQQ), exercised employee stock options to acquire 3,066 ordinary shares on April 20, 2026 and sold 435 shares in an open‑market transaction the same day. The sale of 435 shares was priced at $15.87 each for gross proceeds of approximately $6,903. The exercise is reported with an exercise price of $0.00 (the filing shows a nominal total of $8), and the filing also records a related derivative disposition entry — a reporting artifact that reflects conversion/settlement of the options.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-04-20 (Form 4 filed 2026-05-20).
• Exercises: 3,066 shares acquired via option exercise (coded M); exercise price reported as $0.00 (nominal $8 total in filing).
• Sale: 435 shares sold in the open market at $15.87 each; gross proceeds ≈ $6,903.
• Shares owned after transaction: not specified in the provided filing.
• Footnote: F1 — each Employee Share Option can be exercised after vesting to purchase one ARQQ ordinary share.
• Regulatory note: Issuer is a foreign private issuer; transactions are noted as exempt from Sections 16(b) and 16(c) of the Exchange Act (per the filing remark).
• Filing timing: The report was filed ~30 days after the transaction date; Form 4 timing norms differ for foreign private issuers, so readers should note the filing date.

Context
This was an option exercise combined with an open‑market sale of a portion of the shares. Selling some shares after an exercise (partial sale) is a common way for insiders to cover tax or exercise costs; the filing does not state any tax‑withholding or 10b5‑1 plan. The remaining exercised shares (if any) appear not to have been sold in this filing.