Our View On Quixant's (LON:QXT) CEO Pay

September 02, 2020

Jon Jayal has been the CEO of Quixant Plc ( LON:QXT ) since 2018, and this article will examine the executive's compensation with respect to the overall performance of the company. This analysis will also look to assess whether the CEO is appropriately paid, considering recent earnings growth and investor returns for Quixant.

View our latest analysis for Quixant

How Does Total Compensation For Jon Jayal Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

According to our data, Quixant Plc has a market capitalization of UK£80m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth USD$432k over the year to December 2019. We note that's an increase of around 3% from last year. In particular, the salary of US$387k, makes up a huge portion of the total compensation being paid to the CEO.

On comparing similar-sized companies in the industry with market capitalizations below UK£150m, we found that the median total CEO compensation was USD$341k. Accordingly, our analysis reveals that Quixant Plc pays Jon Jayal just north of the industry median. Furthermore, Jon Jayal directly owns UK£454k worth of shares in the company.

Component	2019	2018	Proportion (2019)
Salary	US$387k	USD$356k	90%
Other	USD$45k	USD$64k	10%
Total Compensation	USD$432k	USD$420k	100%

On an industry level, roughly 70% of total compensation represents salary and 30% is other remuneration. Quixant pays out 90% of remuneration in the form of a salary, significantly higher than the industry average. If salary dominates total compensation, it suggests that CEO compensation is leaning less towards the variable component, which is usually linked with performance.

earnings-and-revenue-history — AIM:QXT Earnings and Revenue History September 8th 2020

A Look at Quixant Plc's Growth Numbers

Over the last three years, Quixant Plc has shrunk its earnings per share by 4.3% per year. In the last year, its revenue is down 20%.

Overall this is not a very positive result for shareholders. And the fact that revenue is down year on year arguably paints an ugly picture. It's hard to argue the company is firing on all cylinders, so shareholders might be averse to high CEO remuneration. Moving away from current form for a second, it could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future .

Has Quixant Plc Been A Good Investment?

Since shareholders would have lost about 68% over three years, some Quixant Plc investors would surely be feeling negative emotions. So shareholders would probably want the company to be lessto generous with CEO compensation.

In Summary...

As we touched on above, Quixant Plc is currently paying its CEO higher than the median pay for CEOs of companies belonging to the same industry and with similar market capitalizations. Unfortunately, this doesn't look great when you see shareholder returns have been negative over the last three years. What's equally worrying is that the company isn't growing by our analysis. Considering such poor performance, we think shareholders might be concerned if the CEO's compensation were to grow.

If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really like this free visualization of insider trading at Quixant.

Switching gears from Quixant, if you're hunting for a pristine balance sheet and premium returns, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look.

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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. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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