CRH chief executive Albert Manifold saw his remuneration package dip 13 per cent to €12.1 million last year as company contributions to his pension fell and a weak performance by the building material giant’s share price reduced stock awards under his incentive plan.
The figures, contained in CRH’s annual report, published on Friday, come a day after the company disclosed in stock exchange filings that Mr Manifold has disposed of €8.2 million worth of shares in the business.
The sale took place in a week that also saw more than €9 million worth of shares vest for the CEO under a performance share scheme, while he was awarded a further €6.5 million of stock under a 2023 plan, and a further almost €1.4 million of deferred shares were released to him. These will form part of his 2023 remuneration.
Mr Manifold’s €13.9 million compensation package for 2021 set a record for a head of an Iseq-quoted company. It had also resulted in the worst CEO-to-median employee salary ratio of any FTSE 100-listed company that year, at 289:1.
The ratio fell to 259:1 last year, according to the latest annual report.
Mr Manifold’s basic salary rose 2.8 per cent last year to €1.65 million, while retirement benefits dropped by 25 per cent to €413,000 as CRH stopped contributing to the CEO’s pension plan last August when he turned 60.
The annual bonus of the CEO of the last nine years rose 2.7 per cent to €3.16 million. The payout was 15 per cent below what Mr Manifold was entitled to under the group’s strong earnings and his own personal performance.
However, the report said both management and the remuneration committee decided to cap the award, “in the context of the uncertain economic climate and backdrop of high inflation and rising costs”.
Stock awarded to Mr Manifold under a long-term incentive plan declined by 21 per cent to €6.82 million, the result of CRH share price weakness.
Shares in CRH fell 21 per cent last year amid concerns about the global economy, widespread inflation and moves by major central banks to hike rates to rein it in. However, they have surged almost a third so far in 2023, boosted last week as the group unveiled plans to move its primary shares listing to the US and accelerate its share buyback programme.
North America now accounts for three-quarters of its earnings. The hope in the market is that the group would trade at a premium relative to profits by being listed in the US, where companies traditionally trade on higher earnings multiples compared to Europe.
Since late 2011, the group has had a primary listing in London with a secondary one in Dublin. It is widely expected that the company will retain its Irish quotation.
CRH also plans to spend $3 billion (€2.8 billion) buying back its own stock this year, more than double the amount committed last year, after posting solid full-year results that left it sitting on what it described as “the strongest balance in our history”.
CRH’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by a target-beating 13 per cent last year to $5.6 billion, outpacing a 12 per cent increase in sales, to $32.7 billion, as it managed to expand its earnings margins despite significant cost inflation over the period. The company had previously forecast that its ebitda would amount to $5.5 billion.
