It's Unlikely That Neoen S.A.'s (EPA:NEOEN) CEO Will See A Huge Pay Rise This Year

Key Insights

• Neoen's Annual General Meeting to take place on 14th of May
• Salary of €300.0k is part of CEO Xavier Barbaro's total remuneration
• The total compensation is 296% higher than the average for the industry
• Neoen's EPS grew by 179% over the past three years while total shareholder return over the past three years was 1.3%

CEO Xavier Barbaro has done a decent job of delivering relatively good performance at Neoen S.A. (EPA:NEOEN) recently. In light of this performance, CEO compensation will probably not be the main focus for shareholders as they go into the AGM on 14th of May. However, some shareholders may still want to keep CEO compensation within reason.

Check out our latest analysis for Neoen

How Does Total Compensation For Xavier Barbaro Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

According to our data, Neoen S.A. has a market capitalization of €4.7b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth €637k over the year to December 2023. That is, the compensation was roughly the same as last year. We think total compensation is more important but our data shows that the CEO salary is lower, at €300k.

On comparing similar companies from the French Renewable Energy industry with market caps ranging from €3.7b to €11b, we found that the median CEO total compensation was €161k. Hence, we can conclude that Xavier Barbaro is remunerated higher than the industry median. Furthermore, Xavier Barbaro directly owns €60m worth of shares in the company, implying that they are deeply invested in the company's success.

Component	2023	2022	Proportion (2023)
Salary	€300k	€279k	47%
Other	€337k	€358k	53%
Total Compensation	€637k	€637k	100%

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 74% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 26% of the pie. It's interesting to note that Neoen allocates a smaller portion of compensation to salary in comparison to the broader industry. If non-salary compensation dominates total pay, it's an indicator that the executive's salary is tied to company performance.

A Look at Neoen S.A.'s Growth Numbers

Neoen S.A.'s earnings per share (EPS) grew 179% per year over the last three years. Its revenue is up 4.2% over the last year.

Shareholders would be glad to know that the company has improved itself over the last few years. It's also good to see modest revenue growth, suggesting the underlying business is healthy. Looking ahead, you might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for the company's future earnings..

Has Neoen S.A. Been A Good Investment?

With a total shareholder return of 1.3% over three years, Neoen S.A. has done okay by shareholders, but there's always room for improvement. Accordingly, a proposal to increase CEO remuneration without seeing an improvement in shareholder returns might not be met favorably by most shareholders.

In Summary...

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.

While CEO pay is an important factor to be aware of, there are other areas that investors should be mindful of as well. That's why we did some digging and identified 1 warning sign for Neoen that investors should think about before committing capital to this stock.

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.