Annual Report 2023

Annual Report 2023

Pay Ratios

Overall pay ratios

The total expense for the non-equity remuneration paid to the CEO (being the only executive director on the Board of Directors) for the year ended December 31, 2023, equalled $1,285,056. The table below shows the evolution over the past five years of CEO compensation, the performance of the Company’s stock price and the median remuneration on a full-time equivalent basis (annualized for the employees who joined or left us during the year) of employees, other than the CEO:

 

 

 

 

2019

 

2020

 

2021

 

2022

 

2023

Base salary of the CEO (EUR)

 

€

 

525,000

 

525,000

 

551,250

 

606,368

 

606,368

Base salary of the CEO (USD)

 

$

 

526,825

 

553,167

 

580,825

 

638,901

 

655,787

Non-equity remuneration of the CEO (USD) (base salary, short-term cash incentive, pension contributions and other compensation elements)

 

$

 

1,001,891

 

1,144,301

 

1,285,136

 

1,443,925

 

1,285,056

Non-equity median salary paid to employees (USD)

 

$

 

121,603

 

163,062

 

157,349

 

153,193

 

159,500

Ratio employee/CEO

 

 

 

12%

 

14%

 

12%

 

11%

 

12%

Average compensation paid to non-executive director (USD)

 

$

 

60,372

 

57,925

 

54,484

 

48,587

 

59,230

Number of employees on December 31

 

 

 

188

 

336

 

650

 

843

 

1,148

Share price at end of year Euronext (EUR) on December 31

 

€

 

143.60

 

242.00

 

315.30

 

348.30

 

343.50

Share price at end of year Euronext (USD) on December 31

 

$

 

161.32

 

296.96

 

357.11

 

371.50

 

379.57

The increase in the remuneration ratio between the CEO and other employees between 2022 and 2023 is caused by the increase in salary of employees when base salary of the CEO has been unchanged.

The comparison of non-equity compensation above is made between the compensation paid to the CEO, the Company’s sole executive director, and the median compensation paid to employees. The Company has opted to compare non-equity salaries, because whereas the number of stock options granted is linked to the overall size of remuneration packages granted, the value of equity components depends on the evolution of the Company’s share price, volatility and the risk-free rate, which is unknown at granting and as such the forward-looking valuation methods for stock options normally do not provide an accurate representation of actual economic value granted. In the assumptions used in the fair valuation differ between Belgian beneficiary versus non-Belgian beneficiary. For a description of the assumptions used in valuing these awards, please refer to note 13 to our consolidated financial statements in section 6 “Consolidated Financial Statements”.

Regional pay ratios

Due to the global spread of employees over multiple continents, it is deemed relevant to also include the above comparison separately to U.S. employees, EU employees and Japanese employees. Due to the overall higher compensation level in the business segment in the U.S. and Japan compared to the EU, there is a significant difference in the pay ratio when the CEO’s compensation is compared to the median compensation of all employees (the majority of which are EU citizens), as set out above, or compared to employees in the U.S. and Japan. The following information is provided for reference purposes:

Ratio of non-equity compensation of median employee compared to the CEO
for fiscal year ended December 31, 2023

All employees

 

13%

EU employees

 

9%

US employees

 

21%

Japan employees

 

8%

Total employment costs (excluding any costs related stock options and RSUs) paid in fiscal year 2023 was split between regions as follows:

Total employment costs in fiscal year ended December 31, 2023
(in millions of $)

Europe

 

159.2

North-America

 

130.2

Japan

 

12.9

Share-based payment ratios