In an article published today in Proteste Investe, the consumer watchdog Deco reported that for the second consecutive year, the head of supermarket group Jerónimo Martins, Pedro Soares dos Santos, heads the list of CEOs who earn the most in relation to the average earnings of their staff at 130 times average salary.
Energy company, EDP, has the highest paid manager in the country, António Mexia, who earned over €2 million, 49.5 times the average pay of his workers which is an impressive €40,000 per year.
Meixa also has the distinction of formally being made a suspect in an investigation into EDP energy contracts and taxpayer-funded subsidies. (Click here)
Of the companies analysed by Deco, in 11 the CEO’s pay was around 25 times the average staff pay, slightly down on the 2015 figure.
"The total remuneration paid to CEOs in 2016 decreased by 6.2% compared to 2015, which may be a good sign," according to Deco, who reaffirmed the need for" stronger legislation to prevent abuses."
Other companies with a higher than average highest divergence were Sonae, CTT, Galp Energia, Semapa, Mota -Engil, Navigator, NOS, BPI and Novabase.
Deco stated that the remuneration set for Boards of Directors should be voted on so that shareholders actually decide salaries but this seldom seems to happen.
Another failure, according to Deco, is that Remuneration Committees do not consist solely of independent members, noting Corticeira Amorim, Galp Energia, Mota-Engil, Navigator, NOS, Semapa, Sonae Capital and Sonae Indústria.
The Deco analysis was based on the 2016 Report and Accounts of 21 national companies quoted on the stock exchange. Pharol and Sonae Indústria did not disclose enough information to enable the wage disparity ratio to be calculated.