The executive directors of the companies listed companies that are part of the index Ibex 35 They had a remuneration in 2024 that was, on average, 55 times the average salary of the employees of these companies, according to the Annual Report on Directors’ Remuneration published this Tuesday by the National Securities Markets Commission (CNMV).
In this way, the multiple has been expanded compared to 2023, since that year was 53 times. This is the fourth year in which companies have to make comparisons between the remuneration of directors, the consolidated results and the average remuneration of employees: in 2022, this figure was 54 times and in 2021 it reached 60 times.
In the case of listed companies that are not part of the Ibex 35, the 2024 multiple was 18 times, which represents a slight reduction compared to the 19 times of the previous year. Looking at the total number of listed companies, the average in 2024 was 33 times, compared to 31 in 2023.
For their part, non-executive directors, without taking into account extraordinary items, were paid three times as much as company employees, while this ratio was four times in Ibex companies and two times in entities that are not part of the index.
An average remuneration of 1.9 million euros
The report published by the CNMV also states that the average remuneration of executive directors increased by 7.6% in 2024, to 1.9 million euros, while that of non-executive directors rose by 9.4%, to 175,000 euros.
In total, the average remuneration of boards of directors has increased by 5.3%, to imply an amount per business leadership of 4.3 million euros.
As in the previous year, the CNMV has noted that among the aspects susceptible to improvement are the explanations regarding the evaluation made of the degree of compliance with non-financial parameters to which the variable remuneration of the directors is linked.
It would also be desirable, in accordance with the implicit invitation of the stock market supervisor to listed companies, that the most significant variations produced in the years reported be explained in more detail.
Gender gap
Regarding the gender pay gap, in 2024 the remuneration of female executive directors was 17.3% lower than that of male directorsalthough it has been found that there is a strong dispersion depending on the capitalization of the company.
Thus, while in the Ibex 35 the average remuneration of female executive directors was 30.4% higher than that of executive directors, in the rest of the companies this percentage was -120.6%. “However, the small number of female executives reduces the representativeness of this average,” the report clarified.
For its part, in the case of non-executive directors, the remuneration of men was 35.2% higher than that of women, although among independent directors there was almost no pay gap.
Corporate governance
In parallel, the CNMV has also published the Annual Corporate Governance Report. According to this document, the average size of the boards of directors was 10 members, the same figure as in 2023. In addition, the average age of the directors was 61.2 years.
The presence of women on boards increased by 1.8 percentage points, up to 36.3% for the total number of contributors. Only in the Ibex 35 The number of female directors was 41.3% of the total. In addition, women in senior management positions were 24.8% of the total, 1.7 points more.
The CNMV has highlighted that, with its recommendations, the percentage of women on boards has increased from 5.9% of the total in 2004 to more than 36% in 2024.
On the other hand, the supervisor has indicated that the floating capital contracted by almost two and a half points last year, up to 40%. Furthermore, in 79 companies (one more than in 2023), the sum of significant stakes and packages of shares held by the board exceeded 50% of the capital. In 31 companies, the free float was less than 25% and in five listed companies of this shortlist, the percentage was less than 5%.
Regarding the independence of board members, The CNMV indicates that 72.7% of Ibex 35 companies maintained at least half of the board members as independent, which translates into a drop of 6.1 percentage points compared to 2023. Of the rest of the companies, a majority of almost 76% had at least a third independent.
The percentage of presidents of the administrative body with the category of executives decreased by three percentage points, standing at 46.6%. At the same time, the percentage of independent directors who held the position of president of the board decreased to 10.3%, compared to 12.8% in 2023.
In general, during 2024 the degree of monitoring of the Good Governance Code It was 88.2% of the recommendations, while another 6.2% were partially followed. 53% of the listed companies (same percentage as in 2023) followed at least 90% of the recommendations, while six listed companies claimed to comply with 100% (three companies less than in 2023) and only one had a follow-up of less than 60%.
The recommendations that were least followed, both absolutely and partially, continued to be those relating to large capitalization companies having an appointments committee and a separate remuneration committee, as well as that the variable remuneration of directors be linked to the delivery of shares.
