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Should You Be Pleased About The CEO Pay At Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited's (HKG:40)

In 1990 Victor Lo was appointed CEO of Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited (HKG:40). This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. Then we'll look at a snap shot of the business growth. 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.

View our latest analysis for Gold Peak Industries (Holdings)

How Does Victor Lo's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

According to our data, Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited has a market capitalization of HK$620m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth HK$11m over the year to March 2019. We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at HK$8.5m. We examined a group of similar sized companies, with market capitalizations of below HK$1.6b. The median CEO total compensation in that group is HK$1.8m.

Thus we can conclude that Victor Lo receives more in total compensation than the median of a group of companies in the same market, and of similar size to Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited. 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, below, how CEO compensation at Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) has changed over time.

SEHK:40 CEO Compensation, February 18th 2020
SEHK:40 CEO Compensation, February 18th 2020

Is Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited Growing?

Over the last three years Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 105% per year (using a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue changed by just 0.8%.

This shows that the company has improved itself over the last few years. Good news for shareholders. Revenue growth is a real positive for growth, but ultimately profits are more important. 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 Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited Been A Good Investment?

Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited has served shareholders reasonably well, with a total return of 14% over three years. But they probably wouldn't be so happy as to think the CEO should be paid more than is normal, for companies around this size.

In Summary...

We compared the total CEO remuneration paid by Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited, and compared it to remuneration at a group of similar sized companies. We found that it pays well over the median amount paid in the benchmark group.

However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. We also note that, over the same time frame, shareholder returns haven't been bad. While it may be worth researching further, we don't see a problem with the CEO pay, given the good EPS growth. CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting to check if the CEO is buying or selling Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) (free visualization of insider trades).

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.

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.

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. Thank you for reading.