Do you agree with these FTSE 250 cyber salaries?

Find out what you can expect to earn for running a mid-cap cyber security company and whether it would get your vote. 

Pay for bosses in the cyber security industry will be highlighted when FTSE 250-listed NCC Group (LSE:NCC) and Darktrace (LSE:DARK) host their AGMs in early November.

Darktrace’s Poppy Gustafsson, who is on a salary of £498,000, received a near maximum bonus of more than £700,000 for 2021/22 after strong growth in revenues over the year.

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New NCC boss Mike Maddison has been recruited on a salary of £500,000, which compares with the £465,000 paid to Adam Palser in his final year at the helm of the Manchester firm.

NCC Group

When: 1pm, Wednesday 2 November.

Where: XYZ Building, 2 Hardman Boulevard, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3AQ.

How to participate: Proxy voting forms need to  be returned no later than 1pm, Monday 31 October. The same deadline applies to questions submitted in advance to investor_relations@ nccgroup.com. More AGM details can be found here.

Who’s in the chair? Chris Stone, who joined the board in April 2017, is the former chief executive of Northgate Information Solutions.

How did the company do in the year to 31 May? The cyber security and resilience business grew revenues by 16.4% to £314.8 million as pre-tax profits more than doubled to £31 million. Basic earnings per share rose to 106% to 7.4p, while the final dividend for payment on 11 November is unchanged at 3.15p.

How have shares performed? Down 27% to 215p (211.5p on Thursday).

How much is the boss paid? Mike Maddison became chief executive on 7 July, with his £500,000 salary substantially below his pay at previous employer EY. He also gets an annual bonus opportunity of 125% of salary and an annual long-term incentive grant of 175% of salary. Adam Palser, who stepped down in June, was paid a total of £1.1 million in the 2021/22 financial year, including his annual salary of £465,000 and an annual bonus of £278,000.

What’s the view of voting agencies? On Maddison’s starting salary, Glass Lewis says it would prefer to see incoming executives appointed at a discount relative to their predecessors. However, it acknowledges that it has been set at this level to secure his recruitment and that it is acceptable relative to market cap peers. Glass Lewis also notes two successive pay rises of around 8% for chief financial officer Tim Kowalski, but adds that this phased increase was flagged in advance. It recommends support for the annual remuneration report.

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How did last year’s AGM go? The annual remuneration report was approved with 93% of votes in favour. The binding vote on the company’s new remuneration policy was backed with support of 87.43%.

How’s the company doing on diversity? There are three women on the eight-strong board, with one person of colour. The company says it intends to meet the FTSE Women Leaders Review target of 40% by the end of 2025.

Darktrace

When: 3pm, Thursday 3 November.

Where: 99 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3XF.

How to participate: Proxy voting forms need to be returned by 3pm on Tuesday, 1 November. More AGM details can be found here.

Who’s in the chair? Former Capita director Gordon Hurst, who joined the board in 2019.

How did the company do in the year to 30 June? The FTSE 250-listed cyber security business grew revenues by 46% to $415 million (£372.5 million), driven primarily by 32.1% year-on-year growth in its customer base to 7,437. It generated a net profit of 1.5 million (£1.35 million), which compared with a loss of $145.8 million (£130.9 million) the prior year caused by one-off additional finance costs. There is no dividend.

How have shares performed? Down 36% to 294.6p (297p on Thursday).

How much is the boss paid? The salary of Poppy Gustafsson increased  in July by 5% to £498,750. In the 2021/22 financial year, she received an annual bonus of £710,700 based on  99.7% of the maximum opportunity. Her total remuneration came to £11.9 million, which reflected the vesting value of long-term incentives granted prior to the company’s stock market listing in 2021 and not subject to current remuneration policy.

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How did last year’s AGM go? The annual remuneration report and company’s new remuneration policy were both approved with more than 99% of votes in favour.

What’s the view of voting agencies? Glass Lewis recommends shareholders vote in favour of the annual remuneration report.

How’s the company doing on diversity? Women make up one third of the board of directors, including in the roles of chief executive and chief financial officer. The company is not currently compliant with targets on ethnic diversity.