We Think Shareholders Are Less Likely To Approve A Large Pay Rise For First Pacific Company Limited's (HKG:142) CEO For Now

Key Insights

• First Pacific's Annual General Meeting to take place on 14th of June
• Total pay for CEO Manny Pangilinan includes US$4.30m salary
• Total compensation is 1,530% above industry average
• First Pacific's total shareholder return over the past three years was 60% while its EPS grew by 57% over the past three years

Performance at First Pacific Company Limited (HKG:142) has been reasonably good and CEO Manny Pangilinan has done a decent job of steering the company in the right direction. This is something shareholders will keep in mind as they cast their votes on company resolutions such as executive remuneration in the upcoming AGM on 14th of June. However, some shareholders may still be hesitant of being overly generous with CEO compensation.

See our latest analysis for First Pacific

How Does Total Compensation For Manny Pangilinan Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

At the time of writing, our data shows that First Pacific Company Limited has a market capitalization of HK$16b, and reported total annual CEO compensation of US$13m for the year to December 2023. That's a modest increase of 7.9% on the prior year. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth acknowledging that the salary portion is lower, valued at US$4.3m.

On comparing similar companies from the Hong Kong Food industry with market caps ranging from HK$7.8b to HK$25b, we found that the median CEO total compensation was US$816k. This suggests that Manny Pangilinan is paid more than the median for the industry. What's more, Manny Pangilinan holds HK$266m worth of shares in the company in their own name, indicating that they have a lot of skin in the game.

Component	2023	2022	Proportion (2023)
Salary	US$4.3m	US$7.3m	32%
Other	US$9.0m	US$5.0m	68%
Total Compensation	US$13m	US$12m	100%

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 74% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 26% of the pie. It's interesting to note that First Pacific 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.

First Pacific Company Limited's Growth

First Pacific Company Limited has seen its earnings per share (EPS) increase by 57% a year over the past three years. It achieved revenue growth of 2.0% over the last year.

This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently and is good news for the shareholders. It's also good to see modest revenue growth, suggesting the underlying business is healthy. 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 First Pacific Company Limited Been A Good Investment?

Boasting a total shareholder return of 60% over three years, First Pacific Company Limited has done well by shareholders. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.

In Summary...

Seeing that the company has put up a decent performance, only a few shareholders, if any at all, might have questions about the CEO pay 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.

We can learn a lot about a company by studying its CEO compensation trends, along with looking at other aspects of the business. We did our research and identified 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit concerning) in First Pacific we think you should know about.

Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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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.