Dumitru Banut, chairman and general manger of aerospace technology producer Aeroteh Bucharest (AER.RO), is one of the highest-paid executives among the companies on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, as he makes 92,000 lei (EUR21,000) before tax per month or about RON72,000 in net amount, according to the data available on the stock market.
The largest listed companies, Petrom (SNP.RO), BRD (BRD.RO), Banca Transilvania (TLV.RO), Alro (ALR.RO) or the regional investment funds (SIF) have never revealed any information about the salaries of their managers, because making such data available is not a mandatory requirement on the local market.
Banut gets RON42,000 before tax per month as chairman of the board of directors and up to RON50,000 in gross amount as general manager, according to the decision of the general meeting of shareholders. Banut’s annual gross income therefore amounts to RON1.1 million. He is also the company’s majority shareholder. Aeroteh made RON8.7 million in net profit last year, while revenue stood at almost EUR10 million. Banut will also collect about RON4.2 million in dividends from last year’s profit.
Gelu Manea, chairman and general manager of the Bucur Obor Bucharest shopping complex (BUCU.RO), is another of the highest-paid executives of listed companies, with a net salary of EUR15,000 (EUR180,000 a year), according to a recent decision of the general meeting of shareholders. He also owns 16% in the company that posted RON13.6 million revenue and RON2.7 million net profit.
The two managers’ salaries trump those some of the SIF chairmen, who manage hundreds of millions of euros in asset portfolios and may make more than EUR15,000 in net amount per month. Their pay is five times the income of Transelectrica (TEL.RO) managers, who earn up to EUR3,500 even though the company is one of the largest state-owned there are.
There is very little information available about the salaries of the executives and directors of the listed companies, and it can usually be found in decisions of the general meetings of shareholders. That is because the law does not require local companies to go public with salaries and bonuses they pay to directors and managers.
On foreign markets, however, listed companies are required to specify how high the salaries are, provide details about bonuses, and specify how much thereof was paid in cash, in stocks or stock options, as well as how much the company paid towards the retirement fund of the executives or how much it spent on their trips.
The largest listed companies in Romania such as Petrom, BRD and Alro have never published information about their manager salaries, even though their majority shareholders OMV, Societe Generale and Vimetco do it on the markets they are listed on. Locally owned companies like SIF, Banca Transilvania or Banca Carpatica are not open about manager salaries, either. Information on local manager pays does travel on the market, so that people say the former general manager of Banca Transilvania used to make up to EUR1 million a year in salary and cash and stock bonuses.
One of the first salaries revealed on the bourse was the salary of the chairman of the board of directors of Cocor shopping center. He earned EUR19,000 in net amount per month in 2008, but early in 2010, shareholders voted to have the pay cut to some EUR10,000.
Other known salaries are those of Dan Ioan Popp, chairman of the board of real estate developer Impact (IMP.RO), who earns RON33,500 before tax per month, and of chairman and general manager of Alumil Rom Industry (ALU.RO), Michail Sotiriou, who earns EUR65,000 in net amount a year (EUR6,416/month). Popp is the founder of Impact and still owns about 16.5% in it, while Sotiriou also owns 24% in Alumil.
Gheorghe Calburean, owner of Dafora Medias (DAFR.RO), which posted RON158 million in revenue in 2011, earns RON35,000 in net amount per month in his position as chairman of the board. He is also the general manager of the company, and is much better paid for it. Calburean and Dafora’s chief financial officer earned RON3.1 million together in 2011, according to the annual financial statements. The exact monthly pay of Calburean is not known.
In SIF Moldova’s (SIF2.RO) case, its two executives (Costel Ceoce, general manager and Liviu Doros, deputy general manager) were paid more than RON1.5 million before tax last year, hence a gross monthly salary of EUR12,000 to EUR13,000 for each of them. They also get EUR4,000 every month as members of the board of directors, so that their incomes exceed EUR15,000, according to ZF’s calculations based on available data. They are also given bonuses for meeting targets, but no one knows how much. (EUR1=RON4.3792)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)