How Should Investors React To EnQuest PLC's (LON:ENQ) CEO Pay?

Amjad Bseisu became the CEO of EnQuest PLC (LON:ENQ) in 2010. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.

View our latest analysis for EnQuest

How Does Amjad Bseisu's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

At the time of writing, our data says that EnQuest PLC has a market cap of UK£428m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of US$1.4m for the year to December 2018. We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$461k. Importantly, there may be performance hurdles relating to the non-salary component of the total compensation. We examined companies with market caps from UK£154m to UK£614m, and discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was UK£653k.

Thus we can conclude that Amjad Bseisu receives more in total compensation than the median of a group of companies in the same market, and of similar size to EnQuest PLC. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the pay is too high. We can get a better idea of how generous the pay is by looking at the performance of the underlying business.

You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at EnQuest, below.

Is EnQuest PLC Growing?

EnQuest PLC has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 89% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 87% over the last year.

Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. Most shareholders would be pleased to see strong revenue growth combined with EPS growth. This combo suggests a fast growing business. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.

Has EnQuest PLC Been A Good Investment?

With a three year total loss of 37%, EnQuest PLC would certainly have some dissatisfied shareholders. It therefore might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously.

In Summary...

We compared total CEO remuneration at EnQuest PLC with the amount paid at companies with a similar market capitalization. Our data suggests that it pays above the median CEO pay within that group.

However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. However, the returns to investors are far less impressive, over the same period. One might thus conclude that it would be better if the company waited until growth is reflected in the share price, before increasing CEO compensation. Shareholders may want to check for free if EnQuest insiders are buying or selling shares.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

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