Increases to CEO Compensation Might Be Put On Hold For Now at Spire Healthcare Group plc (LON:SPI)

Key Insights

• Spire Healthcare Group to hold its Annual General Meeting on 9th of May
• Total pay for CEO Justin Ash includes UK£643.0k salary
• The overall pay is 148% above the industry average
• Over the past three years, Spire Healthcare Group's EPS grew by 145% and over the past three years, the total shareholder return was 21%

Performance at Spire Healthcare Group plc (LON:SPI) has been reasonably good and CEO Justin Ash has done a decent job of steering the company in the right direction. As shareholders go into the upcoming AGM on 9th of May, CEO compensation will probably not be their focus, but rather the steps management will take to continue the growth momentum. However, some shareholders may still be hesitant of being overly generous with CEO compensation.

Check out our latest analysis for Spire Healthcare Group

Comparing Spire Healthcare Group plc's CEO Compensation With The Industry

Our data indicates that Spire Healthcare Group plc has a market capitalization of UK£991m, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as UK£2.7m for the year to December 2023. That's slightly lower by 7.1% over the previous year. While we always look at total compensation first, our analysis shows that the salary component is less, at UK£643k.

On examining similar-sized companies in the British Healthcare industry with market capitalizations between UK£798m and UK£2.6b, we discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was UK£1.1m. This suggests that Justin Ash is paid more than the median for the industry. What's more, Justin Ash holds UK£2.0m worth of shares in the company in their own name.

Component	2023	2022	Proportion (2023)
Salary	UK£643k	UK£631k	24%
Other	UK£2.0m	UK£2.2m	76%
Total Compensation	UK£2.7m	UK£2.9m	100%

On an industry level, roughly 84% of total compensation represents salary and 16% is other remuneration. It's interesting to note that Spire Healthcare Group 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.

Spire Healthcare Group plc's Growth

Over the past three years, Spire Healthcare Group plc has seen its earnings per share (EPS) grow by 145% per year. Its revenue is up 13% over the last year.

Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. This sort of respectable year-on-year revenue growth is often seen at a healthy, growing business. 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 Spire Healthcare Group plc Been A Good Investment?

With a total shareholder return of 21% over three years, Spire Healthcare Group plc shareholders would, in general, be reasonably content. But they would probably prefer not to see CEO compensation far in excess of the median.

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. Still, not all shareholders might be in favor of a pay raise to the CEO, seeing that they are already being paid higher than the industry.

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 Spire Healthcare Group that you should be aware of before investing.

Switching gears from Spire Healthcare Group, 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.