What Did Sabre Insurance Group's (LON:SBRE) CEO Take Home Last Year?

This article will reflect on the compensation paid to Geoff Carter who has served as CEO of Sabre Insurance Group plc (LON:SBRE) since 2017. This analysis will also assess whether Sabre Insurance Group pays its CEO appropriately, considering recent earnings growth and total shareholder returns.

See our latest analysis for Sabre Insurance Group

Comparing Sabre Insurance Group plc's CEO Compensation With the industry

At the time of writing, our data shows that Sabre Insurance Group plc has a market capitalization of UK£651m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of UK£820k for the year to December 2019. That's a modest increase of 7.9% on the prior year. We note that the salary portion, which stands at UK£419.0k constitutes the majority of total compensation received by the CEO.

On comparing similar companies from the same industry with market caps ranging from UK£300m to UK£1.2b, we found that the median CEO total compensation was UK£962k. This suggests that Sabre Insurance Group remunerates its CEO largely in line with the industry average. Moreover, Geoff Carter also holds UK£4.1m worth of Sabre Insurance Group stock directly under their own name, which reveals to us that they have a significant personal stake in the company.

On an industry level, around 37% of total compensation represents salary and 63% is other remuneration. Sabre Insurance Group is paying a higher share of its remuneration through a salary in comparison to the overall industry. If salary is the major component in total compensation, it suggests that the CEO receives a higher fixed proportion of the total compensation, regardless of performance.

A Look at Sabre Insurance Group plc's Growth Numbers

Over the last three years, Sabre Insurance Group plc has shrunk its earnings per share by 42% per year. It saw its revenue drop 5.8% over the last year.

Overall this is not a very positive result for shareholders. And the fact that revenue is down year on year arguably paints an ugly picture. These factors suggest that the business performance wouldn't really justify a high pay packet for the CEO. Looking ahead, you might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for the company's future earnings..

Has Sabre Insurance Group plc Been A Good Investment?

Sabre Insurance Group plc has generated a total shareholder return of 18% over three years, so most shareholders would be reasonably content. But they would probably prefer not to see CEO compensation far in excess of the median.

In Summary...

As previously discussed, Geoff is compensated close to the median for companies of its size, and which belong to the same industry. Sabre Insurance Group 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. This doesn't compare well with CEO compensation, which is close to the industry median. We would stop short of the compensation is inappropriate, but we can't say the executive is underpaid.

While CEO pay is an important factor to be aware of, there are other areas that investors should be mindful of as well. We did our research and spotted 1 warning sign for Sabre Insurance Group that investors should look into moving forward.

Switching gears from Sabre Insurance 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. 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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