Shareholders May Not Be So Generous With Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc.'s (TSE:SWP) CEO Compensation And Here's Why

Key Insights

• Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee's Annual General Meeting to take place on 22nd of May
• Salary of CA$438.1k is part of CEO Frank Dennis's total remuneration
• The overall pay is 225% above the industry average
• Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee's total shareholder return over the past three years was 22% while its EPS grew by 9.1% over the past three years

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Under the guidance of CEO Frank Dennis, Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. (TSE:SWP) has performed reasonably well recently. In light of this performance, CEO compensation will probably not be the main focus for shareholders as they go into the AGM on 22nd of May. However, some shareholders will still be cautious of paying the CEO excessively.

View our latest analysis for Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee

Comparing Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc.'s CEO Compensation With The Industry

According to our data, Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. has a market capitalization of CA$31m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth CA$924k over the year to December 2024. That's a notable increase of 12% on last year. While we always look at total compensation first, our analysis shows that the salary component is less, at CA$438k.

On comparing similar-sized companies in the Canadian Food industry with market capitalizations below CA$279m, we found that the median total CEO compensation was CA$285k. Hence, we can conclude that Frank Dennis is remunerated higher than the industry median. What's more, Frank Dennis holds CA$952k worth of shares in the company in their own name, indicating that they have a lot of skin in the game.

Component	2024	2023	Proportion (2024)
Salary	CA$438k	CA$399k	47%
Other	CA$486k	CA$429k	53%
Total Compensation	CA$924k	CA$829k	100%

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 59% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 41% of the pie. Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee sets aside a smaller share of compensation for salary, in comparison to the overall industry. If total compensation is slanted towards non-salary benefits, it indicates that CEO pay is linked to company performance.

A Look at Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc.'s Growth Numbers

Over the past three years, Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. has seen its earnings per share (EPS) grow by 9.1% per year. Its revenue is up 26% over the last year.

It's great to see that revenue growth is strong. With that in mind, the modestly improving EPS seems positive. We'd stop short of saying the business performance is amazing, but there are enough positives to justify further research, or even adding the stock to your watch-list. Historical performance can sometimes be a good indicator on what's coming up next but if you want to peer into the company's future you might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.

Has Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. Been A Good Investment?

With a total shareholder return of 22% over three years, Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. shareholders would, in general, be reasonably content. But they would probably prefer not to see CEO compensation far in excess of the median.

To Conclude...

The company's decent performance might have made most shareholders happy, possibly making CEO remuneration the least of the concerns to be discussed in the upcoming AGM. However, any decision to raise CEO pay might be met with some objections from the shareholders given that the CEO is already paid higher than the industry average.

We can learn a lot about a company by studying its CEO compensation trends, along with looking at other aspects of the business. We identified 3 warning signs for Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee (2 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.