In 2012 Richard Mathews was appointed CEO of RPMGlobal Holdings Limited (ASX:RUL). This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.

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How Does Richard Mathews’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

According to our data, RPMGlobal Holdings Limited has a market capitalization of AU$123m, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth AU$681k. (This is based on the year to 2018). We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at AU$639k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under AU$279m, and the median CEO compensation was AU$365k.

It would therefore appear that RPMGlobal Holdings Limited pays Richard Mathews more than the median CEO remuneration at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this fact alone doesn’t mean the remuneration is too high. We can better assess whether the pay is overly generous by looking into the underlying business performance.

You can see, below, how CEO compensation at RPMGlobal Holdings has changed over time.

Is RPMGlobal Holdings Limited Growing?

RPMGlobal Holdings Limited has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 62% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 2.0% over the last year.

This shows that the company has improved itself over the last few years. Good news for shareholders. It’s also good to see modest revenue growth, suggesting the underlying business is healthy.

We don’t have analyst forecasts, but you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has RPMGlobal Holdings Limited Been A Good Investment?

With a total shareholder return of 26% over three years, RPMGlobal Holdings Limited shareholders would, in general, be reasonably content. But they would probably prefer not to see CEO compensation far in excess of the median.

In Summary…

We compared the total CEO remuneration paid by RPMGlobal Holdings Limited, and compared it to remuneration at a group of similar sized companies. Our data suggests that it pays above the median CEO pay within that group.

However, the earnings per share growth over three years is certainly impressive. Looking at the same time period, we think that the shareholder returns are respectable. So, considering the EPS growth we do not wish to criticize the level of CEO compensation, though we’d recommend further research on management. If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really like this free visualization of insider trading at RPMGlobal Holdings.

Of course, the past can be informative so you might be interested in considering this analytical visualization showing the company history of earnings and revenue.

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.