What Did Valora Holding's (VTX:VALN) CEO Take Home Last Year?

August 25, 2020

This article will reflect on the compensation paid to Michael Mueller who has served as CEO of Valora Holding AG (VTX:VALN) since 2014. This analysis will also look to assess whether the CEO is appropriately paid, considering recent earnings growth and investor returns for Valora Holding.

See our latest analysis for Valora Holding

Comparing Valora Holding AG's CEO Compensation With the industry

At the time of writing, our data shows that Valora Holding AG has a market capitalization of CHF654m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of CHF2.5m for the year to December 2019. Notably, that's a decrease of 8.1% over the year before. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth acknowledging that the salary portion is lower, valued at CHF867k.

In comparison with other companies in the industry with market capitalizations ranging from CHF364m to CHF1.5b, the reported median CEO total compensation was CHF817k. Hence, we can conclude that Michael Mueller is remunerated higher than the industry median. Moreover, Michael Mueller also holds CHF2.0m worth of Valora Holding stock directly under their own name.

Component	2019	2018	Proportion (2019)
Salary	CHF867k	CHF1.2m	34%
Other	CHF1.7m	CHF1.6m	66%
Total Compensation	CHF2.5m	CHF2.8m	100%

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 63% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 37% of the pie. It's interesting to note that Valora Holding allocates a smaller portion of compensation to salary in comparison to the broader industry. It's important to note that a slant towards non-salary compensation suggests that total pay is tied to the company's performance.

ceo-compensation — SWX:VALN CEO Compensation August 26th 2020

A Look at Valora Holding AG's Growth Numbers

Over the last three years, Valora Holding AG has shrunk its earnings per share by 27% per year. In the last year, its revenue is down 11%.

Few shareholders would be pleased to read that EPS have declined. 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 Valora Holding AG Been A Good Investment?

Since shareholders would have lost about 35% over three years, some Valora Holding AG investors would surely be feeling negative emotions. Therefore, it might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously.

In Summary...

As we noted earlier, Valora Holding pays its CEO higher than the norm for similar-sized companies belonging to the same industry. Unfortunately, this doesn't look great when you see shareholder returns have been negative over the last three years. Add to that declining EPS growth, and you have the perfect recipe for shareholder irritation. Understandably, the company's shareholders might have some questions about the CEO's remuneration, given the disappointing performance.

We can learn a lot about a company by studying its CEO compensation trends, along with looking at other aspects of the business. In our study, we found 4 warning signs for Valora Holding you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.

Switching gears from Valora Holding, 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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