Here's What We Think About Amerisur Resources plc's (LON:AMER) CEO Pay

John Wardle became the CEO of Amerisur Resources plc (LON:AMER) in 2007. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. 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.

See our latest analysis for Amerisur Resources

How Does John Wardle's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

Our data indicates that Amerisur Resources plc is worth UK£232m, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as US$1.5m for the year to December 2018. We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$850k. We examined companies with market caps from US$100m to US$400m, and discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was US$661k.

Thus we can conclude that John Wardle receives more in total compensation than the median of a group of companies in the same market, and of similar size to Amerisur Resources plc. 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, below, how CEO compensation at Amerisur Resources has changed over time.

AIM:AMER CEO Compensation, November 12th 2019
AIM:AMER CEO Compensation, November 12th 2019

Is Amerisur Resources plc Growing?

Amerisur Resources plc has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 77% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It saw its revenue drop 20% over the last year.

Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. The lack of revenue growth isn't ideal, but it is the bottom line that counts most in business. Shareholders might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.

Has Amerisur Resources plc Been A Good Investment?

Since shareholders would have lost about 30% over three years, some Amerisur Resources plc shareholders would surely be feeling negative emotions. It therefore might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously.

In Summary...

We examined the amount Amerisur Resources plc pays its CEO, and compared it to the amount paid by similar sized companies. As discussed above, we discovered that the company pays more than the median of that group.

However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. Having said that, shareholders may be disappointed with the weak returns over the last three years. One might thus conclude that it would be better if the company waited until growth is reflected in the share price, before increasing CEO compensation. Shareholders may want to check for free if Amerisur Resources insiders are buying or selling shares.

Important note: Amerisur Resources may not be the best stock to buy. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.

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