Having a say on pay
Shareholders to vote on G8 boss’ bonus
SHAREHOLDERS of listed Gold Coast childcare giant G8 Education will have their say on whether managing director Gary Carroll has earned a new bonus worth $630,000 — on top of his $840,000 salary and previous bonus of $145,000 — at the company’s annual general meeting next month.
They will also have the chance to approve Mr Carroll’s salary, which was boosted by 10.4 per cent in January, however that shareholder vote is considered “advisory” and the board has no obligation to take any notice.
G8, which reports on a calendar year instead of a financial year, announced an 8cps franked dividend for the second half of 2018, to be paid on April 5.
The company’s net profit fell 14.5 per cent to $79.5 million in calendar 2018 despite revenue increasing 7.7 per cent to $858.2 million.
G8 shareholders will have a binding vote on whether to grant Mr Carroll his longterm incentive bonus of 198,119 shares in the company, worth $629,998.
Mr Carroll would not be able to access the shares until 2022, and then only if the company can grow its earnings per share by more than 15 per cent by the end of 2021.
He has previously been granted long-term incentives of 142,249 shares in 2017 and 198,847 in 2018, which will vest in 2020 and 2021 respectively if the performance targets are met.
The G8 board is also seeking approval for Mr Carroll to unlock the granted share bonuses should he leave the company via redundancy, death or permanent disability.
Shareholders at the meeting, to be held at Mantra on View Surfers Paradise at 11am on April 17, will also vote on whether to re-elect chairman Mark Johnson and director David Foster.
The company’s nonexecutive directors were granted a 14 per cent fee increase in 2018, taking their total combined remuneration for the year to $1.05 million, up from $845,391 the previous year.
In 2018, Mr Carroll took home $760,290 and a $145,000 bonus payment taking his total salary to
$905,290.
The 10.4 per cent increase, effective from January 1 this year, takes his salary to $840,000 including superannuation.
The company, which has a number of brands including Headstart Early Learning Centres and Pelican Childcare, reported earnings of $136.3 million for the year to December 31, in line with the company’s forecast, but lower than the previous year.