What We Learned About Basler's (ETR:BSL) CEO Compensation

Dietmar Ley has been the CEO of Basler Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:BSL) since 2000, 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 Basler.

See our latest analysis for Basler

Comparing Basler Aktiengesellschaft's CEO Compensation With the industry

According to our data, Basler Aktiengesellschaft has a market capitalization of €646m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth €544k over the year to December 2019. This means that the compensation hasn't changed much from last year. In particular, the salary of €338.0k, makes up a huge portion of the total compensation being paid to the CEO.

On examining similar-sized companies in the industry with market capitalizations between €330m and €1.3b, we discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was €751k. This suggests that Basler remunerates its CEO largely in line with the industry average. What's more, Dietmar Ley holds €24m worth of shares in the company in their own name, indicating that they have a lot of skin in the game.

On an industry level, roughly 47% of total compensation represents salary and 53% is other remuneration. It's interesting to note that Basler pays out a greater portion of remuneration through salary, compared to the industry. If salary dominates total compensation, it suggests that CEO compensation is leaning less towards the variable component, which is usually linked with performance.

A Look at Basler Aktiengesellschaft's Growth Numbers

Over the last three years, Basler Aktiengesellschaft has shrunk its earnings per share by 8.4% per year. In the last year, its revenue is up 7.1%.

Overall this is not a very positive result for shareholders. The modest increase in revenue in the last year isn't enough to make us overlook the disappointing change in EPS. These factors suggest that the business performance wouldn't really justify a high pay packet for the CEO. 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 Basler Aktiengesellschaft Been A Good Investment?

With a total shareholder return of 4.7% over three years, Basler Aktiengesellschaft has done okay by shareholders. But they probably don't want to see the CEO paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.

In Summary...

As we noted earlier, Basler pays its CEO in line with similar-sized companies belonging to the same industry. Basler has had a poor showing when it comes to EPS growth, and it's tough to say that shareholder returns have done much to excite us. These figures do not go well against CEO compensation, which is more or less equal to the industry median. Considering all of this, we can't say the CEO is underpaid, and moving forward shareholders will likely want to see higher growth to justify any raise.

CEO compensation is a crucial aspect to keep your eyes on but investors also need to keep their eyes open for other issues related to business performance. That's why we did some digging and identified 1 warning sign for Basler that investors should think about before committing capital to this stock.

Important note: Basler is an exciting stock, but we understand investors may be looking for an unencumbered balance sheet and blockbuster returns. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

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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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