Increases to Betsson AB (publ)'s (STO:BETS B) CEO Compensation Might Cool off for now

Key Insights

• Betsson will host its Annual General Meeting on 7th of May
• Total pay for CEO Pontus Lindwall includes €596.0k salary
• Total compensation is 35% above industry average
• Betsson's EPS grew by 22% over the past three years while total shareholder return over the past three years was 61%

CEO Pontus Lindwall has done a decent job of delivering relatively good performance at Betsson AB (publ) (STO:BETS B) recently. As shareholders go into the upcoming AGM on 7th of May, CEO compensation will probably not be their focus, but rather the steps management will take to continue the growth momentum. However, some shareholders may still be hesitant of being overly generous with CEO compensation.

View our latest analysis for Betsson

How Does Total Compensation For Pontus Lindwall Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

According to our data, Betsson AB (publ) has a market capitalization of kr17b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth €2.0m over the year to December 2023. Notably, that's an increase of 13% over the year before. While we always look at total compensation first, our analysis shows that the salary component is less, at €596k.

For comparison, other companies in the Swedish Hospitality industry with market capitalizations ranging between kr11b and kr35b had a median total CEO compensation of €1.5m. This suggests that Pontus Lindwall is paid more than the median for the industry. Moreover, Pontus Lindwall also holds kr211m worth of Betsson stock directly under their own name, which reveals to us that they have a significant personal stake in the company.

Component	2023	2022	Proportion (2023)
Salary	€596k	€610k	30%
Other	€1.4m	€1.1m	70%
Total Compensation	€2.0m	€1.7m	100%

Speaking on an industry level, nearly 58% of total compensation represents salary, while the remainder of 42% is other remuneration. Betsson pays a modest slice of remuneration through salary, as compared to the broader industry. If total compensation is slanted towards non-salary benefits, it indicates that CEO pay is linked to company performance.

Betsson AB (publ)'s Growth

Over the past three years, Betsson AB (publ) has seen its earnings per share (EPS) grow by 22% per year. In the last year, its revenue is up 18%.

Shareholders would be glad to know that the company has improved itself over the last few years. This sort of respectable year-on-year revenue growth is often seen at a healthy, growing business. Looking ahead, you might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for the company's future earnings..

Has Betsson AB (publ) Been A Good Investment?

Boasting a total shareholder return of 61% over three years, Betsson AB (publ) has done well by shareholders. 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, any decision to raise CEO pay might be met with some objections from the shareholders given that the CEO is already paid higher than the industry average.

While CEO pay is an important factor to be aware of, there are other areas that investors should be mindful of as well. That's why we did some digging and identified 1 warning sign for Betsson that investors should think about before committing capital to this stock.

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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