We Think Some Shareholders May Hesitate To Increase International Housewares Retail Company Limited's (HKG:1373) CEO Compensation

CEO Lai Ha Ngai has done a decent job of delivering relatively good performance at International Housewares Retail Company Limited (HKG:1373) recently. In light of this performance, CEO compensation will probably not be the main focus for shareholders as they go into the AGM on 29 September 2022. However, some shareholders may still be hesitant of being overly generous with CEO compensation.

View our latest analysis for International Housewares Retail

How Does Total Compensation For Lai Ha Ngai Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

According to our data, International Housewares Retail Company Limited has a market capitalization of HK$2.1b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth HK$4.3m over the year to April 2022. That's a notable increase of 28% on last year. In particular, the salary of HK$3.41m, makes up a huge portion of the total compensation being paid to the CEO.

On examining similar-sized companies in the industry with market capitalizations between HK$785m and HK$3.1b, we discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was HK$2.3m. Hence, we can conclude that Lai Ha Ngai is remunerated higher than the industry median. Furthermore, Lai Ha Ngai directly owns HK$112m worth of shares in the company, implying that they are deeply invested in the company's success.

Component	2022	2021	Proportion (2022)
Salary	HK$3.4m	HK$3.2m	78%
Other	HK$939k	HK$159k	22%
Total Compensation	HK$4.3m	HK$3.4m	100%

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 85% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 15% of the pie. International Housewares Retail is largely mirroring the industry average when it comes to the share a salary enjoys in overall compensation. 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.

International Housewares Retail Company Limited's Growth

International Housewares Retail Company Limited has seen its earnings per share (EPS) increase by 23% a year over the past three years. It achieved revenue growth of 8.5% over the last year.

This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently and is good news for the shareholders. It's nice to see revenue heading northwards, as this is consistent with healthy business conditions. Although we don't have analyst forecasts, you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has International Housewares Retail Company Limited Been A Good Investment?

We think that the total shareholder return of 95%, over three years, would leave most International Housewares Retail Company Limited shareholders smiling. So they may not be at all concerned if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.

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. However, if the board proposes to increase the compensation, some shareholders might have questions given that the CEO is already being paid higher than the industry.

CEO compensation can have a massive impact on performance, but it's just one element. We did our research and spotted 1 warning sign for International Housewares Retail that investors should look into moving forward.

Switching gears from International Housewares Retail, 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.