Should You Be Pleased About The CEO Pay At Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited's (HKG:276)

Yvette Ong became the CEO of Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited (HKG:276) in 2012. This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. 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 method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.

Check out our latest analysis for Mongolia Energy

How Does Yvette Ong's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

At the time of writing, our data says that Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited has a market cap of HK$164m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of HK$7.6m for the year to March 2019. We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at HK$4.4m. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under HK$1.6b, and the median CEO total compensation was HK$1.8m.

As you can see, Yvette Ong is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited is paying too much. We can get a better idea of how generous the pay is by looking at the performance of the underlying business.

The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at Mongolia Energy has changed from year to year.

Is Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited Growing?

Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 53% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 62% 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. Although we don't have analyst forecasts you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited Been A Good Investment?

Given the total loss of 70% over three years, many shareholders in Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. So shareholders would probably think the company shouldn't be too generous with CEO compensation.

In Summary...

We compared the total CEO remuneration paid by Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited, and compared it to remuneration at a group of similar sized companies. As discussed above, we discovered that the company pays more than the median of 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. CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting to check if the CEO is buying or selling Mongolia Energy (free visualization of insider trades).

Important note: Mongolia Energy may not be the best stock to buy. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

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.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.