How Much Did Astino Berhad's (KLSE:ASTINO) CEO Pocket Last Year?

This article will reflect on the compensation paid to Hung Ng who has served as CEO of Astino Berhad (KLSE:ASTINO) since 2016. This analysis will also look to assess whether the CEO is appropriately paid, considering recent earnings growth and investor returns for Astino Berhad.

View our latest analysis for Astino Berhad

How Does Total Compensation For Hung Ng Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

At the time of writing, our data shows that Astino Berhad has a market capitalization of RM238m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of RM1.5m for the year to July 2020. That's a slightly lower by 7.7% over the previous year. Notably, the salary which is RM939.0k, represents most of the total compensation being paid.

For comparison, other companies in the industry with market capitalizations below RM811m, reported a median total CEO compensation of RM453k. Accordingly, our analysis reveals that Astino Berhad pays Hung Ng north of the industry median. Furthermore, Hung Ng directly owns RM15m worth of shares in the company, implying that they are deeply invested in the company's success.

On an industry level, roughly 90% of total compensation represents salary and 10% is other remuneration. It's interesting to note that Astino Berhad allocates a smaller portion of compensation to salary in comparison to the broader industry. If salary dominates total compensation, it suggests that CEO compensation is leaning less towards the variable component, which is usually linked with performance.

Astino Berhad's Growth

Over the last three years, Astino Berhad has shrunk its earnings per share by 13% per year. It saw its revenue drop 11% over the last year.

The decline in EPS is a bit concerning. And the fact that revenue is down year on year arguably paints an ugly picture. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. We don't have analyst forecasts, but you could get a better understanding of its growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Astino Berhad Been A Good Investment?

Since shareholders would have lost about 7.3% over three years, some Astino Berhad investors would surely be feeling negative emotions. So shareholders would probably want the company to be lessto generous with CEO compensation.

In Summary...

As we touched on above, Astino Berhad is currently paying its CEO higher than the median pay for CEOs of companies belonging to the same industry and with similar market capitalizations. This doesn't look good against shareholder returns, which have been negative for the past three years. Add to that declining EPS growth, and you have the perfect recipe for shareholder irritation. Considering such poor performance, we think shareholders might be concerned if the CEO's compensation were to grow.

CEO compensation is an important area to keep your eyes on, but we've also need to pay attention to other attributes of the company. In our study, we found 4 warning signs for Astino Berhad you should be aware of, and 1 of them makes us a bit uncomfortable.

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. 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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