The stock market rocket of recent years Qt Groupin managing director Juha Varelius has collected record incentive payments in the financial year 2021, according to the company ‘s annual report.
The total fees charged by Varelius for 2021 will increase to EUR 27.47 million. On top of a fixed salary of just over EUR 350,000, Varelius received slightly less than EUR 300,000 in short-term incentive bonuses and EUR 26.82 million in long-term incentive bonuses.
The large amount of incentive bonuses is explained by the sale of options received from the 2016 option program.
In the 2016 stock option program, the company’s President and CEO has been granted 568,941 share options, each of which entitles the holder to subscribe for one new share in the company or a share held by it. The subscription period for the shares to be subscribed for with the stock options was 19 December 201–31 December 2022 and the subscription price is EUR 4.84.
Varelius did not yet sell all options in the first half of last year. According to the annual report, at the end of the financial year, he still had 70,206 additional share options left.
The company’s share price development has been quite favorable for Varelius. In October last year, Qt’s price was already close to 180 euros.
(The story continues after the graphics.)
The company’s share price curve gained further momentum after the start of the interest rate pandemic in the spring of 2020, although the valuation level has moderated somewhat in recent months.
The strong rise in share prices is partly due to the company’s excellent profitability and growth rate. Year after year, Qt has clearly exceeded its own financial targets.
Hardly any other CEO of the Helsinki Stock Exchange has reached the same annual fee amounts.
In 2020, Varelius’ taxable income totaled more than seven million euros. Even then, he reached the top of the CEOs of the largest companies on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.