RE: Great trading update, plus placing15 Jul 2023 07:27
A concern flagged by an article on Stockopedia by Mark Simpson;
In total, the board paid themselves £4.6m last year. Given that Profit Before Tax was just £10.3m. If they paid themselves half this figure, then PBT would have been 22% higher. 2022 was a good year, and the remuneration report makes it clear that the bonus payments reflect that. However, PBT rose by £2.5m vs the year before, and board pay rose by £1.6m. Meaning directors took home 40% of all of the additional profits in pay.
With this remuneration structure, it is unsurprising that directors are not big holders of the equity. Each holds less than 1% of the shares, meaning the incentive to restrain board pay may not be present in the future either.
So despite the strong metrics, investors need to take a view on how much of any future returns will actually accrue to shareholders before investing.