BUSINESS NEWS - Two announcements from JSE-listed mining companies in the last week have revealed how just four executive directors – two CEOs, a CFO and a COO – will receive in excess of R700 million in guaranteed compensation for last year and this.
Almost half of this figure – or an astonishing R300.3 million – was the total remuneration for Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman for last year.
The bulk of this (R264 million) was in the form of conditional share awards made to the gold, platinum and lithium miner’s top employee. This includes adjustments for accruals not settled, those settled in the year, as well as movements on these in the year.
Excluding all of these, Froneman’s total single figure remuneration for the year was R291.6 million.
By comparison, his total package was ‘just’ R62.7 million in 2020 (which included R21.3 million in conditional share awards).
Froneman has a dual-service contract where roughly two-thirds of his remuneration is in rands (R193.8 million) while the remainder is in US dollars (totalling R106.5 million). Depending on the performance of the company this year, he may end up being paid a figure similar to that in 2021.
CFO of Sibanye-Stillwater Charl Keyter had remuneration totalling R147.2 million last year. A full 87% of this comprised conditional share awards (R128 million). Keyter had total remuneration of R30.9 million in 2020.
A rather curious announcement was made on Tuesday by Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) which is the subject of a bidding war between Impala Platinum (Implats) and Northam Platinum.
RBPlat said that while its CEO Steve Phiri had advised the board of his intention to retire at the 2022 AGM, it had managed to secure his services for a further 12 months on a fixed-term contract to ensure “organisational stability”.
COO Neil Carr also retired on April 7 at the AGM and has been retained on the same basis as Phiri.
The retainment is not the curious part. RBPlat says that in terms of Phiri’s retirement, he will be “entitled to a pro-rated accelerated vesting of his scheme shares, after assessment of the applicable performance conditions … but will further be entitled to a discretionary accelerated vesting of the balance of the shares which will be subject to the required assessment of the additional performance conditions, in terms of the contract”.
This means 378 396 RBPlat shares will vest, while a further 356 091 shares will also vest, subject to further performance conditions.
In total, these 734 000 shares are worth R112 million at the closing price of RBPlat on Tuesday.
