In 2008 Tim Van Hauwermeiren was appointed CEO of argenx SE (EBR:ARGX). First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Then we'll look at a snap shot of the business growth. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.

View our latest analysis for argenx

How Does Tim Van Hauwermeiren's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

According to our data, argenx SE has a market capitalization of €6.0b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth €4.4m over the year to December 2018. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at €500k. Importantly, there may be performance hurdles relating to the non-salary component of the total compensation. We examined companies with market caps from €3.7b to €11b, and discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was €2.2m.

As you can see, Tim Van Hauwermeiren is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean argenx SE is paying too much. We can get a better idea of how generous the pay is by looking at the performance of the underlying business.

You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at argenx, below.

Is argenx SE Growing?

argenx SE has reduced its earnings per share by an average of 33% a year, over the last three years (measured with a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 87% over last year.

As investors, we are a bit wary of companies that have lower earnings per share, over three years. On the other hand, the strong revenue growth suggests the business is growing. In conclusion we can't form a strong opinion about business performance yet; but it's one worth watching. Shareholders might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.

Has argenx SE Been A Good Investment?

Most shareholders would probably be pleased with argenx SE for providing a total return of 787% over three years. 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...

We compared total CEO remuneration at argenx SE with the amount paid at companies with a similar market capitalization. As discussed above, we discovered that the company pays more than the median of that group.