Andy Kong has been the CEO of WLS Holdings Limited (HKG:8021) since 2007. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Next, we’ll consider growth that the business demonstrates. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.

Check out our latest analysis for WLS Holdings

How Does Andy Kong’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

According to our data, WLS Holdings Limited has a market capitalization of HK$546m, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth HK$1.1m. (This figure is for the year to 2018). We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at HK$960k. We examined a group of similar sized companies, with market capitalizations of below HK$1.6b. The median CEO compensation in that group is HK$1.7m.

Most shareholders would consider it a positive that Andy Kong takes less compensation than the CEOs of most similar size companies, leaving more for shareholders. Though positive, it’s important we delve into the performance of the actual business.

You can see, below, how CEO compensation at WLS Holdings has changed over time.

Is WLS Holdings Limited Growing?

Over the last three years WLS Holdings Limited has shrunk its earnings per share by an average of 16% per year. It saw its revenue drop -2.5% over the last year.

Sadly for shareholders, earnings per share are actually down, over three years. 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.

We don’t have analyst forecasts, but shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has WLS Holdings Limited Been A Good Investment?

With a three year total loss of 89%, WLS Holdings Limited would certainly have some dissatisfied shareholders. So shareholders would probably think the company shouldn’t be too generous with CEO compensation.

In Summary…

It appears that WLS Holdings Limited remunerates its CEO below most similar sized companies.

Andy Kong is paid less than CEOs of similar size companies, but the company isn’t growing and total shareholder returns have been disappointing. We would not call the pay too generous, but nor would we claim the CEO is underpaid, given lacklustre business performance. So you may want to check if insiders are buying WLS Holdings shares with their own money (free access).

Or you might prefer examine intently this intuitive graph showing past earnings and revenue.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.