Rob DeDominicis became the CEO of GBST Holdings Limited (ASX:GBT) in 2015. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. Then we’ll look at a snap shot of the business growth. And finally – as a second measure of performance – we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.

View our latest analysis for GBST Holdings

How Does Rob DeDominicis’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

At the time of writing our data says that GBST Holdings Limited has a market cap of AU$106m, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of AU$623k. (This figure is for the year to 2018). Notably, that’s an increase of 14% over the year before. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it’s worth noting the salary is lower, valued at AU$582k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under AU$279m, and the median CEO compensation was AU$365k.

Thus we can conclude that Rob DeDominicis receives more in total compensation than the median of a group of companies in the same market, and of similar size to GBST Holdings Limited. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean the pay is too high. We can get a better idea of how generous the pay is by looking at the performance of the underlying business.

You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at GBST Holdings, below.

Is GBST Holdings Limited Growing?

Over the last three years GBST Holdings Limited has shrunk its earnings per share by an average of 32% per year. The trailing twelve months of revenue was pretty much the same as the prior period.

Few shareholders would be pleased to read that earnings per share are lower over three years. And the flat revenue is seriously uninspiring. It’s hard to argue the company is firing on all cylinders, so shareholders might be averse to high CEO remuneration.

It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.

Has GBST Holdings Limited Been A Good Investment?

Given the total loss of 60% over three years, many shareholders in GBST Holdings Limited are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. This suggests it would be unwise for the company to pay the CEO too generously.

In Summary…

We compared total CEO remuneration at GBST Holdings Limited with the amount paid at companies with a similar market capitalization. We found that it pays well over the median amount paid in the benchmark group.

Earnings per share have not grown in three years, and the revenue growth fails to impress us.

Over the same period, investors would have come away with nothing in the way of share price gains. And we’d be remiss not to note that the CEO remuneration has increased on last year. In our opinion the CEO might be paid too generously! CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting to check if the CEO is buying or selling GBST Holdings (free visualization of insider trades).

Or you might prefer this data-rich interactive visualization of historic revenue and earnings.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.