Should You Worry About Agile Group Holdings Limited’s (HKG:3383) CEO Pay?
Zhuo Chen became the CEO of Agile Group Holdings Limited (HKG:3383) in 2014. This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally – as a second measure of performance – we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.
See our latest analysis for Agile Group Holdings
How Does Zhuo Chen’s Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
At the time of writing our data says that Agile Group Holdings Limited has a market cap of HK$40b, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of CN¥3.9m. (This number is for the twelve months until 2017). It is worth noting that the CEO compensation consists almost entirely of the salary, worth CN¥3.9m. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations from CN¥28b to CN¥83b, and the median CEO compensation was CN¥3.0m.
As you can see, Zhuo Chen is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Agile Group Holdings Limited is paying too much. A closer look at the performance of the underlying business will give us a better idea about whether the pay is particularly generous.
You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Agile Group Holdings has changed over time.
Is Agile Group Holdings Limited Growing?
On average over the last three years, Agile Group Holdings Limited has grown earnings per share (EPS) by 54% each year. Its revenue is up 15% over last year.
This shows that the company has improved itself over the last few years. Good news for shareholders. IThis sort of respectable year-on-year revenue growth is often seen at a healthy, growing business.
You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.
Has Agile Group Holdings Limited Been A Good Investment?
I think that the total shareholder return of 217%, over three years, would leave most Agile Group Holdings Limited shareholders smiling. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don’t mind if the CEO is paid more than is normal for a company of its size.
In Summary…
We compared total CEO remuneration at Agile Group Holdings Limited 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.
However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. On top of that, in the same period, returns to shareholders have been great. As a result of this good performance, the CEO remuneration may well be quite reasonable. If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really like this free visualization of insider trading at Agile Group Holdings.
Or you might prefer gaze upon this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow .
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.
