Nicor Chief Gets $2.5 Million In '08 Compensation
The Associated Press
03/12/09 - 10:50 AM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) Nicor Inc.'s chief executive, Russ Strobel, received a compensation package valued at $2.5 million in fiscal 2008, up 16 percent from a year earlier, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures disclosed in a regulatory filing made Wednesday.
Strobel's package rose from the $2.2 million he got in 2007, according to Nicor's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Strobel, 56, received performance and other bonuses totaling $931,466 in 2008, up from $692,996 he was awarded the year before.
In addition, Strobel received stock options valued at $613,958, when they were granted March 27, 2008. In 2007, Strobel's stock options were valued at $627,825 on their grant date, in part from a higher share price at the time.
Strobel's salary rose to $767,616, compared with $694,308 in 2007, and he received "other" compensation totaling $162,608, comprised mostly of company contributions to his retirement plans. He also received $30,428 in above-market returns on his deferred compensation.
The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the past fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.
The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.
Nicor is a natural-gas distributor and container ship operator based in Naperville, Ill.
Strobel, Nicor's CEO and president since March 2005, was the highest paid among the five company executives listed in the report.
Nicor said it based part of Strobel's compensation on certain company metrics, including the executive's performance and overall corporate financial and operating performance.
For the full-year 2008, Nicor reported a net income drop of 12 percent to $119.5 million, or $2.63 per share, compared with a profit of $135.2 million, or $2.99 per share, in 2007. Revenue rose to $3.78 billion from $3.18 billion a year ago.
Shares of Nicor have fallen in tandem with the plummeting price of natural gas, which has shed about 70 percent of its value from its mid-2008 peak above $13 per 1,000 cubic feet to below $4 per 1,000 cubic feet. Since the September of 2008, shares of Nicor have tumbled more than 40 percent. From the start of the year, Nicor shares fell 18 percent to end the year at $34.12 per share.
Nicor recently said it expects 2009 earnings to decline from 2008 levels. The company predicted a profit between $2.45 per share and $2.65 per share, which reflects lower expected results in the company's gas distribution and shipping businesses.
Shares of Nicor gained 24 cents to $28.38 in Thursday morning trading.
