Key Insights

• paragon GmbH KGaA will host its Annual General Meeting on 12th of June

• Salary of €600.0k is part of CEO Klaus Frers's total remuneration

• Total compensation is 317% above industry average

• paragon GmbH KGaA's EPS declined by 79% over the past three years while total shareholder loss over the past three years was 69%

paragon GmbH & Co. KGaA (ETR:PGN) has not performed well recently and CEO Klaus Frers will probably need to up their game. Shareholders will be interested in what the board will have to say about turning performance around at the next AGM on 12th of June. This will be also be a chance where they can challenge the board on company direction and vote on resolutions such as executive remuneration. We present the case why we think CEO compensation is out of sync with company performance.

View our latest analysis for paragon GmbH KGaA

How Does Total Compensation For Klaus Frers Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

According to our data, paragon GmbH & Co. KGaA has a market capitalization of €16m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth €1.4m over the year to December 2023. That's a notable increase of 29% on last year. We think total compensation is more important but our data shows that the CEO salary is lower, at €600k.

For comparison, other companies in the German Auto Components industry with market capitalizations below €184m, reported a median total CEO compensation of €342k. Accordingly, our analysis reveals that paragon GmbH & Co. KGaA pays Klaus Frers north of the industry median.

Speaking on an industry level, nearly 37% of total compensation represents salary, while the remainder of 63% is other remuneration. According to our research, paragon GmbH KGaA has allocated a higher percentage of pay to salary in comparison to the wider industry. If non-salary compensation dominates total pay, it's an indicator that the executive's salary is tied to company performance.

paragon GmbH & Co. KGaA's Growth

paragon GmbH & Co. KGaA has reduced its earnings per share by 79% a year over the last three years. It saw its revenue drop 4.3% over the last year.

Overall this is not a very positive result for shareholders. And the fact that revenue is down year on year arguably paints an ugly picture. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. While we don't have analyst forecasts for the company, shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.