In This Article:
Patrick Pouyanné has been the CEO of TOTAL S.A. (EPA:FP) since 2014. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at other large companies. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.
See our latest analysis for TOTAL
How Does Patrick Pouyanné's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
Our data indicates that TOTAL S.A. is worth €131b, and total annual CEO compensation is US$6.0m. (This is based on the year to December 2017). We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$1.4m. When we examined a group of companies with market caps over €7.1b, we found that their median CEO total compensation was €2.9m. Once you start looking at very large companies, you need to take a broader range, because there simply aren't that many of them.
As you can see, Patrick Pouyanné is paid more than the median CEO pay at large companies, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean TOTAL S.A. 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 TOTAL, below.
Is TOTAL S.A. Growing?
TOTAL S.A. has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 32% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 23% over last year.
Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. It's also good to see decent revenue growth in the last year, suggesting the business is healthy and growing. Shareholders might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.
Has TOTAL S.A. Been A Good Investment?
I think that the total shareholder return of 37%, over three years, would leave most TOTAL S.A. shareholders smiling. As a result, some may believe the CEO should be paid more than is normal for companies of similar size.
In Summary...
We compared the total CEO remuneration paid by TOTAL S.A., and compared it to remuneration at a group of other large companies. We found that it pays well over the median amount paid in the benchmark group.
However, the earnings per share growth over three years is certainly impressive. On top of that, in the same period, returns to shareholders have been great. Considering this fine result for shareholders, we daresay the CEO compensation might be apt. Shareholders may want to check for free if TOTAL insiders are buying or selling shares.