Shareholders May Not Be So Generous With Wilmington plc's (LON:WIL) CEO Compensation And Here's Why

CEO Mark Milner has done a decent job of delivering relatively good performance at Wilmington plc (LON:WIL) recently. In light of this performance, CEO compensation will probably not be the main focus for shareholders as they go into the AGM on 23 November 2022. However, some shareholders may still want to keep CEO compensation within reason.

Our analysis indicates that WIL is potentially undervalued!

How Does Total Compensation For Mark Milner Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

At the time of writing, our data shows that Wilmington plc has a market capitalization of UK£255m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of UK£1.1m for the year to June 2022. Notably, that's an increase of 39% over the year before. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth acknowledging that the salary portion is lower, valued at UK£368k.

For comparison, other companies in the same industry with market capitalizations ranging between UK£168m and UK£673m had a median total CEO compensation of UK£811k. Accordingly, our analysis reveals that Wilmington plc pays Mark Milner north of the industry median. Moreover, Mark Milner also holds UK£231k worth of Wilmington stock directly under their own name.

Component	2022	2021	Proportion (2022)
Salary	UK£368k	UK£350k	35%
Other	UK£698k	UK£419k	65%
Total Compensation	UK£1.1m	UK£769k	100%

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 47% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 53% of the pie. Wilmington pays a modest slice of remuneration through salary, as compared to the broader industry. If total compensation is slanted towards non-salary benefits, it indicates that CEO pay is linked to company performance.

A Look at Wilmington plc's Growth Numbers

Wilmington plc's earnings per share (EPS) grew 43% per year over the last three years. In the last year, its revenue is up 7.1%.

Shareholders would be glad to know that the company has improved itself over the last few years. It's good to see a bit of revenue growth, as this suggests the business is able to grow sustainably. 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 Wilmington plc Been A Good Investment?

With a total shareholder return of 32% over three years, Wilmington plc shareholders would, in general, be reasonably content. But they probably don't want to see the CEO paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.

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.

CEO pay is simply one of the many factors that need to be considered while examining business performance. That's why we did our research, and identified 3 warning signs for Wilmington (of which 1 can't be ignored!) that you should know about in order to have a holistic understanding of the stock.

Switching gears from Wilmington, 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. 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.