14.	Equity Compensation Plan

2015

the Company’s shareholders and board of directors adopted an Equity Compensation Plan (“the Plan”), which replaced the Company’s previous equity compensation plan which was adopted in

2007

and expired in

2015

(the

“2007

Plan”) under which the Company’s employees, directors or other persons or entities providing significant services to the Company or its subsidiaries are eligible to receive stock-based awards including restricted stock, restricted stock units, unrestricted stock, bonus stock, performance stock and stock appreciation rights. The Plan is administered by the Compensation Committee of the Company’s board of directors and the aggregate number of shares of common stock reserved under this plan cannot exceed

10%

of the number of shares of Company’s common stock issued and outstanding at the time any award is granted. The Company’s Board of Directors

may

terminate the Plan at any time. As of

December

31,

2016,

a total of

555,479

restricted shares had been granted under the

2007

Plan since the

first

grant in the

third

quarter of

2007

and

awards had been granted under the Plan. No additional awards

may

be granted under the

2007

Plan.

November

22,

2012,

the Company granted

74,761

non-vested restricted shares to the Company’s CEO, CFO, Executive and non-executive members of Board of Directors. The fair value of each share granted was

$7.26

which is equal to the market value of the Company’s common stock on that day. The restricted shares vested on

September

30,

2014.

November

20,

2014,

the Company granted

230,713

of non-vested restricted shares to the Company’s CEO and non-executive members of Board of Directors of the Company. The fair value of each share granted was

$7.58

which is equal to the market value of the Company’s common stock on that day. The restricted shares vest over

years from the grant date

(115,357

restricted shares on

November

20,

2015,

57,678

restricted shares on

November

20,

2016

and

57,678

restricted shares on

November

20,

2017).

All unvested restricted shares are conditional upon the option holder’s continued service as an employee of the Company, or as a director until the applicable vesting date. Until the forfeiture of any restricted shares, the grantee has the right to vote such restricted shares, to receive and retain all regular cash dividends paid on such restricted shares and to exercise all other rights provided that the Company will retain custody of all distributions other than regular cash dividends made or declared with respect to the restricted shares.

The Company pays dividends on all restricted shares regardless of whether they have vested and there is no obligation of the employee to return the dividend when employment ceases. The Company did not pay any dividends in the years ended

December

31,

2014,

2015

and

2016.

The Company estimates the forfeitures of non-vested share awards to be immaterial and hence accounts for forfeitures as they occur.

Management has selected the accelerated method allowed by the guidance with respect to recognizing stock based compensation expense for restricted share awards with graded vesting because it considers this method to better match expense with benefits received.

In addition, non-vested awards granted to non-employees are measured at their then-current fair value as of the financial reporting dates until non-employees complete the service.

The stock based compensation expense for the vested and non-vested shares for the years ended

December

31,

2014,

2015

and

2016

amounted to

$357,967,

$1,140,084

and

$340,377,

respectively, and is included in the consolidated statements of operations under the caption “General and administrative expenses”.

A summary of the status of the Company’s non-vested restricted shares as of

December

31,

2016,

is presented below:

	Number of restricted shares		Weighted average grant date fair value per non-vested share
Non-vested, January 1, 2016		115,356		7.58
Vested		57,678		7.58
Forfeited		—		—
Non-vested, December 31, 2016		57,678		7.58

The total fair value of shares vested during the years ended

December

31,

2014,

2015

and

2016

was

$681,073,

$441,815

and

$210,525,

respectively, based on the closing share price at each vesting date. The remaining unrecognized compensation cost amounting to

$129,246

as of

December

31,

2016,

is expected to be recognized over the remaining period of

0.89

years, according to the contractual terms of those non-vested share awards.