"SMRT CEO's pay of over $2m beats predecessor's - My Paper Jun 25, 2015
SMRT chief executive Desmond Kuek, 52, earned more than $2.25 million last year, according to the company's latest annual report. The amount is double what he made when he first joined the rail operator in October 2012.
For the six months to SMRT's financial year end in March 2013, Mr Kuek made $611,000, which is equivalent to $1.22 million if annualised. For the year ended March 2014, he made between $1.75 million and $2 million.
In its latest annual report, the Temasek Holdings-owned transport group said Mr Kuek's remuneration was between $2.25 million and $2.5 million for the last financial year. This means Mr Kuek's compensation had doubled in less than three years, making him SMRT's highest-paid CEO. His predecessor, Saw Phaik Hwa, made about $1.85 million before she left in 2012.
Mr Kuek's remuneration package is also noticeably larger than that of Kua Hong Pak, his counterpart at rival transport group ComfortDelGro - a significantly larger company. Last year, Mr Kua, 71, drew between $1.75 million and $2 million, a remuneration band that has not changed in recent years.
In its last financial year, ComfortDelGro posted a turnover of $4.05 billion and profit of $283.5 million, while SMRT recorded a turnover of $1.24 billion and net earnings of $91 million.
SMRT director Tan Ek Kia told The Straits Times that Mr Kuek's remuneration "is benchmarked to peer companies...and is competitive and at a responsible level". He added that the new CEO's tasks were more daunting than before. SMRT has been struggling to renew ageing operating assets to improve service reliability and is, at the same time, looking for new ways to bolster earnings eroded by higher operating expenditure.
In a recent interview with The Straits Times, Mr Kuek said: "We have made tremendous progress on many fronts...but there is much more to be done to improve rail reliability."
Even so, the former chief of defence force's remuneration has raised eyebrows. Said David Leong, managing director of human-resource firm People Worldwide Consulting: "He may well deserve the amount based on others he is benchmarked against, but SMRT should have been more sensitive to public perception. "The company is under close public scrutiny. It is not like it has done exceedingly well financially. On the engineering front, it has not done that well either, because the spate of breakdowns has not fallen dramatically.""
This news come hot on the heels of the multi-million total compensation package for SingTel's CEO. Also a company where Temasek has significant stake.
Lessons for me are:
1. Mr Kuek has done VERY WELL for himself since his army's days. Not bad at all to double your pay within 3 years with none much to show. Plus, a generous help from the government buying buses for 'his' company to make money! He has to be one of the most adaptable and capable army generals in the world to run a transportation company with no prior experiences. Most commendable!!;
2. Alas, it is just an inconvenient coincident that one of his CLOSEST competitors, Mr Kua, who runs a much bigger company and making a lot MORE money, is pay less than him. This is NOT even counting Mr Kua's company is a TRUE multinational global Singapore company with businesses in the UK and Australia besides China!! I am SURE the director Mr Tan Ek Kia is FULLY aware of this, OR NOT, when he said: Mr Kuek's compensation is benchmarked against his peers and is RESPONSIBLE!!;
3. It is QUITE OBVIOUS that the elite running SMRT has a mind, a very fixed and rigid one too, of their own that: you pay peanuts you get monkeys. So, you must pay a lot to get talent to run a 'profitable' public transportation company in a duopoly. The uproars over its LAST CEO's mere S$1.8+m compensation package in the PAST had been TOTALLY ignored! It is like: "I run the ship and I can do whatever I want. This is NONE of your business! Oh, by the way, if you want BETTER service, PAY MORE!!"
I am not sure how the public is receiving this piece of news. It is really no fault of Mr Kuek that that Board of Directors and the Compensation Committee deemed his work and his performance is worth that much. Higher than the last CEO who left under a cloud of controversies about her legacies. Maybe it is not just Mr Kuek needs to ponder about his good fortune. Maybe someone else should too?
A sour grape gripping?
SMRT chief executive Desmond Kuek, 52, earned more than $2.25 million last year, according to the company's latest annual report. The amount is double what he made when he first joined the rail operator in October 2012.
For the six months to SMRT's financial year end in March 2013, Mr Kuek made $611,000, which is equivalent to $1.22 million if annualised. For the year ended March 2014, he made between $1.75 million and $2 million.
In its latest annual report, the Temasek Holdings-owned transport group said Mr Kuek's remuneration was between $2.25 million and $2.5 million for the last financial year. This means Mr Kuek's compensation had doubled in less than three years, making him SMRT's highest-paid CEO. His predecessor, Saw Phaik Hwa, made about $1.85 million before she left in 2012.
Mr Kuek's remuneration package is also noticeably larger than that of Kua Hong Pak, his counterpart at rival transport group ComfortDelGro - a significantly larger company. Last year, Mr Kua, 71, drew between $1.75 million and $2 million, a remuneration band that has not changed in recent years.
In its last financial year, ComfortDelGro posted a turnover of $4.05 billion and profit of $283.5 million, while SMRT recorded a turnover of $1.24 billion and net earnings of $91 million.
SMRT director Tan Ek Kia told The Straits Times that Mr Kuek's remuneration "is benchmarked to peer companies...and is competitive and at a responsible level". He added that the new CEO's tasks were more daunting than before. SMRT has been struggling to renew ageing operating assets to improve service reliability and is, at the same time, looking for new ways to bolster earnings eroded by higher operating expenditure.
In a recent interview with The Straits Times, Mr Kuek said: "We have made tremendous progress on many fronts...but there is much more to be done to improve rail reliability."
Even so, the former chief of defence force's remuneration has raised eyebrows. Said David Leong, managing director of human-resource firm People Worldwide Consulting: "He may well deserve the amount based on others he is benchmarked against, but SMRT should have been more sensitive to public perception. "The company is under close public scrutiny. It is not like it has done exceedingly well financially. On the engineering front, it has not done that well either, because the spate of breakdowns has not fallen dramatically.""
This news come hot on the heels of the multi-million total compensation package for SingTel's CEO. Also a company where Temasek has significant stake.
Lessons for me are:
1. Mr Kuek has done VERY WELL for himself since his army's days. Not bad at all to double your pay within 3 years with none much to show. Plus, a generous help from the government buying buses for 'his' company to make money! He has to be one of the most adaptable and capable army generals in the world to run a transportation company with no prior experiences. Most commendable!!;
2. Alas, it is just an inconvenient coincident that one of his CLOSEST competitors, Mr Kua, who runs a much bigger company and making a lot MORE money, is pay less than him. This is NOT even counting Mr Kua's company is a TRUE multinational global Singapore company with businesses in the UK and Australia besides China!! I am SURE the director Mr Tan Ek Kia is FULLY aware of this, OR NOT, when he said: Mr Kuek's compensation is benchmarked against his peers and is RESPONSIBLE!!;
3. It is QUITE OBVIOUS that the elite running SMRT has a mind, a very fixed and rigid one too, of their own that: you pay peanuts you get monkeys. So, you must pay a lot to get talent to run a 'profitable' public transportation company in a duopoly. The uproars over its LAST CEO's mere S$1.8+m compensation package in the PAST had been TOTALLY ignored! It is like: "I run the ship and I can do whatever I want. This is NONE of your business! Oh, by the way, if you want BETTER service, PAY MORE!!"
I am not sure how the public is receiving this piece of news. It is really no fault of Mr Kuek that that Board of Directors and the Compensation Committee deemed his work and his performance is worth that much. Higher than the last CEO who left under a cloud of controversies about her legacies. Maybe it is not just Mr Kuek needs to ponder about his good fortune. Maybe someone else should too?
A sour grape gripping?
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