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Does YouGov plc's (LON:YOU) CEO Salary Compare Well With Others?

Stephan Shakespeare is the CEO of YouGov plc (LON:YOU). This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.

View our latest analysis for YouGov

How Does Stephan Shakespeare's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

At the time of writing, our data says that YouGov plc has a market cap of UK£804m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of UK£623k for the year to July 2019. While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at UK£264k. When we examined a selection of companies with market caps ranging from UK£311m to UK£1.2b, we found the median CEO total compensation was UK£916k.

A first glance this seems like a real positive for shareholders, since Stephan Shakespeare is paid less than the average total compensation paid by similar sized companies. However, before we heap on the praise, we should delve deeper to understand business performance.

The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at YouGov has changed from year to year.

AIM:YOU CEO Compensation, February 21st 2020
AIM:YOU CEO Compensation, February 21st 2020

Is YouGov plc Growing?

YouGov plc has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 53% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 17% over the last year.

This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. It's also good to see decent revenue growth in the last year, suggesting the business is healthy and growing. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.

Has YouGov plc Been A Good Investment?

Most shareholders would probably be pleased with YouGov plc for providing a total return of 192% over three years. 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...

It looks like YouGov plc pays its CEO less than similar sized companies.

Many would consider this to indicate that the pay is modest since the business is growing. The strong history of shareholder returns might even have some thinking that Stephan Shakespeare deserves a raise! It's not often we see shareholders do so well, and yet the CEO is paid modestly. But it is even better if company insiders are also buying shares with their own money. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling YouGov shares (free trial).

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.