In This Article:
Chris Richardson became the CEO of Linius Technologies Limited (ASX:LNU) in 2016, and we think it's a good time to look at the executive's compensation against the backdrop of overall company performance. This analysis will also assess whether Linius Technologies pays its CEO appropriately, considering recent earnings growth and total shareholder returns.
View our latest analysis for Linius Technologies
How Does Total Compensation For Chris Richardson Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?
According to our data, Linius Technologies Limited has a market capitalization of AU$38m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth AU$218k over the year to June 2020. That's a notable decrease of 19% on last year. Notably, the salary of AU$218k is the entirety of the CEO compensation.
For comparison, other companies in the industry with market capitalizations below AU$279m, reported a median total CEO compensation of AU$331k. That is to say, Chris Richardson is paid under the industry median.
| Component | 2020 | 2019 | Proportion (2020) |
| Salary | AU$218k | AU$271k | 100% |
| Other | - | - | - |
| Total Compensation | AU$218k | AU$271k | 100% |
On an industry level, roughly 60% of total compensation represents salary and 40% is other remuneration. On a company level, Linius Technologies prefers to reward its CEO through a salary, opting not to pay Chris Richardson through non-salary benefits. If salary dominates total compensation, it suggests that CEO compensation is leaning less towards the variable component, which is usually linked with performance.
Linius Technologies Limited's Growth
Over the past three years, Linius Technologies Limited has seen its earnings per share (EPS) grow by 1.1% per year. It saw its revenue drop 60% over the last year.
We would argue that the lack of revenue growth in the last year is less than ideal, but the modest EPSgrowth gives us some relief. It's hard to reach a conclusion about business performance right now. This may be one to watch. 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 Linius Technologies Limited Been A Good Investment?
Given the total shareholder loss of 50% over three years, many shareholders in Linius Technologies Limited are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. So shareholders would probably want the company to be lessto generous with CEO compensation.
In Summary...
Linius Technologies rewards its CEO solely through a salary, ignoring non-salary benefits completely. As we touched on above, Linius Technologies Limited is currently paying its CEO below the median pay for CEOs of companies belonging to the same industry and with similar market capitalizations. But then, EPS growth is lacking and so are the returns to shareholders. So while we don't think, Chris is paid too much, shareholders may hope that business performance translates to investment returns before pay rises are given out.