Hey jimmybuffalino,
I think the confusion has to do with them changing financial year end from Dec to Jun. The FY20 report covered 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021 (12 months), whereas the FY21 report only covered 1 Jan 2021 to 30 Jun 2021 (6 months). His annual base salary is $600k but in 5.1.1. they have pro-rated it to just cover the 6 months from the last annual report i.e. $300k. In 5.2.1 they have shown the annual figure - as you note they have footnoted to try and explain this but it is a little confusing. However, his annual base salary is definitely $600k. I think it is on the high side for a company of this size, particularly when you add on the STI, which can be up to 120% of the base salary. In FY20 he earnt that 120%, which means his remuneration was $600k (base) plus $720k (STI) plus 359k options (LTI). For the six months of FY21 he earnt $300k (base) plus $360k (STI) plus nil (LTI).
In addition to the base being at the high end of the spectrum it seems a bit suss to me that the board is awarding the full 120% STI. Half of the STI is awarded based on profit versus target, which isn't transparent to us (but, hey, we just own the company, why should we get to know what their profit target is), but the other half is awarded based on a combination of Strategy, People & Culture, Technology, Corporate Governance, Compliance and Risk Management. Presumably he's either smashed it out of the park on every single one of those measures OR the targets are too lenient.
I liked this company a lot 12-18 months ago. I felt it was significantly under valued and I could see the trajectory it was likely to take up until about now. At the time I think I stated somewhere that I wasn't smart enough to be able to predict much further. I hoped as 'now' got closer it would either become clearer or I'd get smarter. Unfortunately I don't think it has gotten any clearer and I know I haven't gotten any smarter.
I still think this is a fairly good quality business, that pays a cracking dividend and will do ok (once COVID impacts lessen) so long as the building/renovation sector keeps bubbling along. But I'm expecting a fairly soft half year report (it'll be among many COVID-impacted friends in that regard) and I remain concerned about their lack of moat, management pay and low insider ownership. As I result I sold out completely on Strawman a while back for a good profit and lightened considerably IRL. As a profitable high-yield paying company it may hold up in this risk-off environment but if it gets a run-on from those playing the dividend game over the next couple of months I'll probably look to sell down further and utilise the proceeds elsewhere.