Here's What We Learned About The CEO Pay At Sing Tao News Corporation Limited (HKG:1105)

Sai Wo Siu became the CEO of Sing Tao News Corporation Limited (HKG:1105) in 2013, and we think it's a good time to look at the executive's compensation against the backdrop of overall company performance. This analysis will also look to assess whether the CEO is appropriately paid, considering recent earnings growth and investor returns for Sing Tao News.

View our latest analysis for Sing Tao News

How Does Total Compensation For Sai Wo Siu Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

According to our data, Sing Tao News Corporation Limited has a market capitalization of HK$881m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth HK$6.3m over the year to December 2019. We note that's a decrease of 12% compared to last year. In particular, the salary of HK$6.08m, makes up a huge portion of the total compensation being paid to the CEO.

For comparison, other companies in the industry with market capitalizations below HK$1.6b, reported a median total CEO compensation of HK$2.6m. Hence, we can conclude that Sai Wo Siu is remunerated higher than the industry median. What's more, Sai Wo Siu holds HK$7.9m worth of shares in the company in their own name, indicating that they have a lot of skin in the game.

Speaking on an industry level, nearly 84% of total compensation represents salary, while the remainder of 16% is other remuneration. Sing Tao News is focused on going down a more traditional approach and is paying a higher portion of compensation through salary, as compared to non-salary benefits. 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 Sing Tao News Corporation Limited's Growth Numbers

Over the last three years, Sing Tao News Corporation Limited has shrunk its earnings per share by 108% per year. In the last year, its revenue is down 25%.

Overall this is not a very positive result for shareholders. And the impression is worse when you consider revenue is down year-on-year. These factors suggest that the business performance wouldn't really justify a high pay packet for the CEO. While we don't have analyst forecasts for the company, shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Sing Tao News Corporation Limited Been A Good Investment?

Sing Tao News Corporation Limited has served shareholders reasonably well, with a total return of 29% over three years. But they probably don't want to see the CEO paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.

To Conclude...

Sing Tao News pays its CEO a majority of compensation through a salary. As we noted earlier, Sing Tao News pays its CEO higher than the norm for similar-sized companies belonging to the same industry. This doesn't look great when you realize that the company has been suffering from negative EPS growth for the last three years. While shareholder returns are acceptable, they don't delight. So we think more research is needed, but we don't think the CEO is underpaid.

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 significant) in Sing Tao News we think you should know about.

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

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