Pay cuts for heads of Singapore property firms

Singapore

PROPERTY group City Developments' (CDL) executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng had his total remuneration plunge 82 per cent last year. He received S$1.63 million in 2020, down from S$8.89 million in 2019.

CDL recorded a full-year net loss of S$1.92 billion for 2020, reversing from a S$564.6 million profit in 2019. This was CDL's first full-year loss since the early 1970s.

Last year, CDL booked substantial impairment losses on Sincere Property Group, hotels and investment properties.

Zhong Sheng Jian, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of fellow developer Yanlord Land also received a reduced pay package in 2020.

His total remuneration was in the range of S$8 million to S$8.25 million last year, down by around 20 per cent from that of S$10 million to S$10.25 million in 2019.

Yanlord Land recorded profit attributable to shareholders of 2.59 billion yuan (S$529 million) in 2020, down 23 per cent from a year ago.

CDL's latest annual report showed that Mr Kwek and its key management personnel had requested to forgo their bonus for 2020 in view of the group's overall poor financial performance and the continued challenges faced by its two big acquisitions, namely Sincere Property Group and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels.

He said the group will see "the turnaround of the hospitality sector with the return of international travel".

CDL's CEO Sherman Kwek saw his remuneration fall 64 per cent from S$2.84 million to S$1.02 million.

Meanwhile, property giant CapitaLand also slashed the pay of its CEO last year. Lee Chee Koon's remuneration fell 41 per cent from S$6.54 million in 2019 to S$3.87 million in 2020.

For 2020, hefty revaluation losses and impairments dragged CapitaLand into its first full-year net loss in almost two decades. The group recorded a S$1.57 billion net loss in 2020, compared with a net profit of S$2.14 billion in 2019.

In contrast, UOL Group upped the remuneration of its CEO Liam Wee Sin by 2 per cent. His pay edged up from S$2.13 million in 2019 to S$2.18 million in 2020.

UOL achieved net profit attributable to shareholders of S$13.1 million in 2020, down 97 per cent from S$478.8 million in 2019.

Ho Bee Land's chairman and CEO Chua Thian Poh also bucked the trend. His remuneration for 2020 was in the band of S$8.25 million to S$8.5 million, up from that of S$8 million to S$8.25 million in 2019.

Ho Bee's profit attributable to shareholders fell 59 per cent to S$137.1 million last year.

In the latest financial year, many head honchos have taken year-on-year pay cuts.

The CEOs of Singapore's three banks, for instance, saw their remunerations fall by 9 to 24 per cent.