Show me the money

The Levy brothers of Blue Label Telecoms were South Africa’s top-earning executives for the past financial year, taking home close to R50-million each.

This is according to Mabili’s 2009 director’s remuneration report, which shows that chief executive Brett Levy took home R50.4-million, whereas his brother and joint chief executive, Mark Levy, took home R49.5-million.They each received R40-million after cashing in a portion of their shareholding in the company.

When Blue Label listed, the brothers agreed to stay on for four years and, as part of the agreement, they were entitled to cash in a portion of their shareholding in each of the four years.

Laurence Grubb, the managing director of Mabili Reward, says this is just the first of the Levy brothers’ annual redemptions, so they are likely to be among the top earners for the next three years.

Last year’s high-flyer, Murray & Roberts chief executive Brian Bruce, came in third with a total pay packet of R47.8-million, down from last year’s R99.1-million. Bruce cashed in by offloading R37.4-million in share options, which significantly boosted his earnings for the financial year.

Grindrod executive Tim McClure and Rainbow Chicken chief executive Miles Dally rounded off the top five with R39.9-million and R39.7-million respectively.

The financial sector had the highest average package overall of R6.7-million. The sector’s top earners were FirstRand’s chief executive, Paul Harris, with R27.8-million, Sanlam chief executive Johan van Zyl with 27.1-million, former Absa chief executive Steve Booysen taking home R18.2-million and Standard Bank chief executive Jaco Maree taking home R14.1-million.

Grubb says executive pay has levelled off, down from an average increase of more than 20% last year to an increase of 11.6% this year. The report states that the median chief executive package increased from R4.7-million last year to R5.3-million, although other executive packages remained fairly stagnant from last year to this.

‘What we have seen is pay increases for CEOs that are more in line with average wage increases,” says Grubb. But looking at executives’ salaries, he says, it has been mostly business as usual and most of the cutbacks have happened on the bonus side.

One exception is Clientele Life chief executive Gavin Soll, who took home the biggest annual bonus, pocketing a whopping R17.6-million, a shade up from his R17-million bonus the year before.

Former Absa chief executive Steve Booysen took second place in the bonus stakes with R12-million, while three executives from mining company Assore each took home R11-million-plus bonuses.

Some didn’t receive bonuses but their annual salaries more than compensated, such as Highveld Steel and Vanadium chief executive Walter Ballandino, who took home the highest—guaranteed package of R17.9-million—and Shoprite’s Whitey Basson with R16.6-million.

Other high-profile executives who took home healthy packages are Phuthuma Nhleko, MTN’s chief executive, with a total package of R20-million, Telkom chief executive Reuben September with R19.1-million and Sasol chief executive Pat Davies with R13.6-milllion.

Former Transnet chief executive Maria Ramos took home R11.2-million, while former Eskom chief executive Thulani Gcabashe took home R7.8-million.

Former SAA boss Khaya Ngqula and former SABC boss Dali Mpofu, who both left their companies under a cloud, pocketed R5.9-million and R4.5-million respectively.