Should You Worry About Eland Oil & Gas PLC's (LON:ELA) CEO Pay?
George Walter Maxwell became the CEO of Eland Oil & Gas PLC (LON:ELA) in 2014. This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. 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.
See our latest analysis for Eland Oil & Gas
How Does George Walter Maxwell's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
According to our data, Eland Oil & Gas PLC has a market capitalization of UK£270m, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth US$937k. (This is based on the year to December 2018). We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$413k. When we examined a selection of companies with market caps ranging from UK£162m to UK£648m, we found the median CEO total compensation was UK£704k.
Thus we can conclude that George Walter Maxwell receives more in total compensation than the median of a group of companies in the same market, and of similar size to Eland Oil & Gas PLC. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the pay is too high. 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 a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Eland Oil & Gas, below.
Is Eland Oil & Gas PLC Growing?
Over the last three years Eland Oil & Gas PLC has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 12% per year (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 145% over the last year.
Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. It's great to see that revenue growth is strong, too. These metrics suggest the business is growing strongly. Shareholders might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.
Has Eland Oil & Gas PLC Been A Good Investment?
I think that the total shareholder return of 339%, over three years, would leave most Eland Oil & Gas PLC shareholders smiling. 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 the total CEO remuneration paid by Eland Oil & Gas PLC, and compared it to remuneration at a group of similar sized companies. Our data suggests that it pays above the median CEO pay within that 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. As a result of this good performance, the CEO remuneration may well be quite reasonable. Shareholders may want to check for free if Eland Oil & Gas insiders are buying or selling shares.
Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
