Pay cut 24%, CIBC chief gets $6.24M
05.02.10
TORONTO -- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSX:CM) disclosed Thursday that its chief executive Gerry McCaughey took a 24-per cent reduction to his direct compensation last year.
The bank said McCaughey received annual compensation worth $6.24 million in 2009, after helping steer CIBC back towards profitability.
That compares to the heftier $8.16 million payment he received in 2008, the same year the bank fell to a $2 billion annual loss.
CIBC was the first of the big Canadian banks to report its executive compensation figures. It said the lower payment partly reflects a change to the way it calculates compensation, as well as its overall financial performance.
Other executives also took pay cuts, with wholesale banking head Richard Nesbitt shaving eight per cent off his compensation to $5.43 million in 2009.
Chief financial officer David Williamson took a near six per cent reduction to $2.3 million.
"Overall, the board believes Gerry McCaughey and his team have made
Source: Winnipeg Free Press
Imperial Sugar: Buy for Value, Hold for Growth
03.02.10
I wrote a recent instablog about Imperial Sugar ( IPSU ), outlining the investment thesis covering the past few years of its history, up to the present. Highlights of that article:
IPSU is trading at under $16.50/share; IPSU will record a one-time pre-tax gain from an insurance settlement of over $23/share this quarter; After that gain, their net tangible book value will be roughly $30/share; Between 2005 and 2007, IPSU paid out over $2.50/share every year in dividends and special dividends; A refinery explosion in early 2008 shut down ~60% of their capacity, leading to losses in '08 and '09, but the damaged refinery will be back to full capacity within the next few months.
All of these facts are very favorable for Imperial. What's holding the share price down? They are currently being sued for deaths and injuries resulting from the refinery explosion. Due to the nature of Georgia's worker's compensation laws, it is very likely that these lawsuits will be thrown out or settled at negligible cost to Imperial. All of the details can be found in the original instablog .
Source: Seeking Alpha (blog)