As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 10, 2024
Registration No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM S-8
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
WD-40 COMPANY
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Delaware | 95-1797918 | |||||||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) | |||||||
9715 Businesspark Avenue
San Diego, California, 92131
(619) 275-1400
(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)
WD-40 COMPANY 2016 STOCK INCENTIVE PLAN,
as amended and restated effective December 12, 2023
(Full title of the plan)
Phenix Q. Kiamilev
Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
9715 Businesspark Avenue
San Diego, California, 92131
(619) 275-1400
(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
Michael Nordtvedt Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation 701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5100 Seattle, Washington 98104-7036 (206) 883-2500 | ||
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer | Accelerated filer ☐ | ||||
Non-accelerated filer ☐ | Smaller reporting company ☐ | ||||
Emerging growth company ☐ | |||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
EXPLANATORY NOTE
WD-40 Company (the “Registrant”) is filing this Registration Statement on Form S-8 (this “Registration Statement”) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) to register 1,000,000 additional shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the WD-40 Company 2016 Stock Incentive Plan, as amended and restated effective December 12, 2023.
Accordingly, contents of the previous Registration Statement on Form S-8 filed by the Registrant with the Commission on January 9, 2018 (File No. 333-222479) (the “Previous Form S-8”), including the information incorporated by reference therein and the periodic reports filed after the Previous Form S-8 to maintain current information about the Registrant, are incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement pursuant to General Instruction E of Form S-8.
PART I
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS
The information specified in Item 1 and Item 2 of Part I of Form S-8 is omitted from this Registration Statement in accordance with the provisions of Rule 428 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and the introductory note to Part I of Form S-8. The documents containing the information specified in Part I of Form S-8 will be delivered to the participants in the equity benefit plans covered by this Registration Statement as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act. These documents and the documents incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement pursuant to Item 3 of Part II of Form S-8, taken together, constitute a prospectus that meets the requirements of Section 10(a) of the Securities Act.
PART II
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.
The Registrant hereby incorporates by reference into this Registration Statement the following documents previously filed with the Commission:
(1) The Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, filed with the Commission on October 23, 2023;
(2) The Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended November 30, 2023, filed with the Commission on January 9, 2024;
(3) The Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended February 29, 2024, filed with the Commission on April 9, 2024;
(4) All other reports filed with the Commission pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), since the end of the fiscal year covered by the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K referred to in (1) above; and
(5) The description of the Registrant’s common stock contained in the Registrant’s Amendment No. 2 on Form 8-A/A, filed with the Commission on May 23, 2008, pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description.
All documents filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act on or after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement that indicates that all securities offered have been sold or that deregisters all securities then remaining unsold shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents; provided, however, that documents or information deemed to have been
furnished and not filed in accordance with the rules of the Commission shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement. Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any subsequently filed document which also is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.
Item 4. Description of Securities.
Not applicable.
Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.
Not applicable.
Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law authorizes a corporation’s board of directors to grant, and authorizes a court to award, indemnity to officers, directors and other corporate agents.
Our certificate of incorporation contains provisions that limit the liability of our directors for monetary damages to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law. Consequently, our directors will not be personally liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duties as directors, except liability for the following:
•any breach of their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders;
•any act or omission not in good faith or that involves intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law;
•unlawful payments of dividends or unlawful stock repurchases or redemptions as provided in Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law; or
•any transaction from which they derived an improper personal benefit.
Any amendment, repeal or elimination of these provisions will not eliminate or reduce the effect of these provisions in respect of any act, omission or claim that occurred or arose prior to that amendment, repeal or elimination. If the Delaware General Corporation Law is amended to provide for further limitations on the personal liability of directors of corporations, then the personal liability of our directors will be further limited to the greatest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law.
Our certificate of incorporation also provides that we shall be authorized to indemnify our officers, directors, employees and agents to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, which power to indemnify shall include, without limitation, the power to enter into indemnification agreements and amendments thereto upon such terms as our board of directors shall deem advisable.
In addition, our bylaws provide that each person who was or is made a party or is threatened to be made a party to or is involved in any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (“Proceeding”), by reason of the fact that he or she, or a person of whom he or she is the legal representative, is or was a director or officer or is or was serving at our request as a director or officer of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, including service with respect to employee benefit plans, whether the basis of the Proceeding is alleged action in an official capacity as a director or officer or in any other capacity while serving as a director or officer, shall be indemnified and held harmless by us to the fullest extent authorized by the Delaware General Corporation Law, as the same exists or may hereafter be amended (but,
in the case of any such amendment, only to the extent that such amendment permits us to provide broader indemnification rights than said law permitted us to provide prior to such amendment) against all expenses, liability and loss (including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines, ERISA excise taxes or penalties and amounts paid or to be paid in settlement) reasonably incurred or suffered by such person in connection therewith; provided, however, that, subject to the bylaws, we shall indemnify any such person seeking indemnity in connection with a Proceeding (or part thereof) initiated by such person only if such Proceeding (or part thereof) was authorized by our board of directors.
Such right shall be a contract right and shall include the right to receive payment from us for actual and reasonable expenses incurred in defending any Proceeding in advance of its final disposition; provided, however, that, the payment of such expenses incurred by a director or officer in his or her capacity as a director or officer (and not in any other capacity in which service was or is rendered by such person while a director or officer, including, without limitation, service to an employee benefit plan) in advance of the final disposition of the Proceeding, shall be made only upon delivery to us of an undertaking, by or on behalf of such director or officer, to repay all amounts so advanced if it should be determined ultimately that such director or officer is not entitled to be indemnified under provisions of our bylaws or otherwise.
Provided, however, that no indemnification shall be made: (a) in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which such person shall have been adjudged to be liable to us in the performance of such person’s duty to us and its stockholders, unless and only to the extent that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or the court in which the Proceeding is or was pending shall determine upon application that, in view of all the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for expenses and then only to the extent that the court shall determine; (b) of amounts paid in settling or otherwise disposing of a Proceeding without approval from our board of directors or a determination by the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or the court in which the Proceeding is or was pending that, in view of all the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for expenses and then only to the extent that the court shall determine; or (c) of expenses incurred in defending a pending action which is settled or otherwise disposed of without approval from our board of directors or a determination by the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or the court in which the Proceeding is or was pending that, in view of all the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for expenses and then only to the extent that the court shall determine.
Further, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and certain of our executive officers that require us to indemnify such persons to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law against expenses, judgments, fines and settlement amounts actually and reasonably incurred in connection with any proceeding (including derivative actions in certain cases), whether actual or threatened, to which any such person may be made a party by reason of the fact that such person was or is our director, officer, employee, agent or fiduciary or any other corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise which such person is or was serving at our request. These indemnification agreements also set forth certain procedures that will apply in the event of a claim for indemnification thereunder. We believe that these agreements are necessary to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve as directors and executive officers.
The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in our certificate of incorporation, bylaws and indemnification agreements may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors and officers for breach of their fiduciary duties. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against our directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might benefit us and other stockholders. Further, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent that we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our directors and officers as required by these indemnification provisions.
We have obtained insurance policies under which, subject to the limitations of the policies, coverage is provided to our directors and officers against loss arising from certain liabilities that might be imposed as a result of actions, suits or proceedings to which the directors or officers are parties by reason of having been our directors or officers. Such policies of insurance also provide insurance for the directors and officers to cover certain expenses in connection with the defense of any such actions, suits or proceedings.
Item 7. Exemption from Registration Claimed.
Not applicable.
Item 8. Exhibits.
| Exhibit Number | Exhibit Description | Form | File Number | Exhibit Number | Filing Date | Filed Herewith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4.1 | 10-K | 000-06936 | 3(a) | October 22, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4.2 | 8-K | 000-06936 | 3.2 | June 23, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5.1 | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23.1 | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23.2 | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24.1 | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 99.1 | DEF 14A | 000-06936 | Appendix A | November 2, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 107 | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Item 9. Undertakings.
(a) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:
(1) to file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:
(i) to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;
(ii) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20 percent change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement; and
(iii) to include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement;
provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement.
(2) that, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(3) to remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.
(b) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of San Diego, State of California, on April 10, 2024.
| WD-40 COMPANY | ||||||||
| By: | /s/ Steven A. Brass | |||||||
| Steven A. Brass | ||||||||
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director (Principal Executive Officer) | ||||||||
| By: | /s/ Sara K. Hyzer | |||||||
| Sara K. Hyzer | ||||||||
| Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) | ||||||||
POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints the officers of the Registrant, including Steven A. Brass, Sara K. Hyzer, and Phenix Q. Kiamilev, and each of them, as his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this registration statement, including post-effective amendments, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorney-in-fact and agent and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith and about the premises, as fully for all intents and purposes as they, he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorney-in-fact and agent or any of them, or their, his or her substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| Signature | Title | Date | ||||||||||||
/s/ Steven A. Brass Steven A. Brass | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ Cynthia B. Burks Cynthia B. Burks | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ Daniel T. Carter Daniel T. Carter | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ Eric P. Etchart Eric P. Etchart | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ Lara L. Lee Lara L. Lee | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ Edward O. Magee, Jr. Edward O. Magee, Jr. | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ Trevor I. Mihalik Trevor I. Mihalik | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ Graciela I. Monteagudo Graciela I. Monteagudo | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ David B. Pendarvis David B. Pendarvis | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ Gregory A. Sandfort Gregory A. Sandfort | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||
/s/ Anne G. Saunders Anne G. Saunders | Director | April 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||