Ameren CEO Gets 2008 Compensation Of $4M
The Associated Press
03/12/09 - 04:16 PM EDT
By MARK WILLIAMS
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Gary Rainwater, chairman, president and chief executive of the utility Ameren Corp., received a compensation package of $4 million in 2008, down 16.5 percent from the previous year, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Rainwater, who is stepping down after five years as the company to executive to become executive chairman on May 1, had received a total compensation package of $4.8 million in 2007.
The St. Louis-based company has slashed its dividend for 2009 along with its capital and operating budgets because of the weak economy.
Rainwater received a salary of $935,000 plus performance-based pay of $771,656 last year.
His pay package also included stock options worth $2.2 million when awarded in February 2008. Like many other utilities, Ameren's stock price has fallen considerably in the past year, declining by 37 percent in 2008 and 40 percent so far this year.
Thomas Voss, CEO of AmerenUE, the company's Missouri utility, will succeed Rainwater as president and CEO.
Ameren posted earnings of $622 million, or $2.95 per share, in 2008, compared with earnings of $685 million, or $3.30 per share in 2007. Revenue increased to $7.8 billion from $7.6 billion in 2007.
The company blamed the decline in profit last year on higher fuel and transportation costs.
Last month, the company said it expects earnings of $2.68 to $3.08 per share this year as strains on the capital and credit markets will reduce sales, lower power prices for unsold non-rate regulated generation and higher financing costs. The estimate does not include charges.
Ameren also declared a 38.5 cent dividend for the first quarter, a 39 percent reduction on an annual level from 2008. The move will save $215 million this year.
At the same time, the company has slashed its capital and operating budgets by $800 million and cut executive salaries and incentive compensation opportunities. Many other utilities have taken similar steps.
Rainwater said in a statement at the time that the decision to cut the dividend was driven by the "the desire to enhance Ameren's financial strength and flexibility as we manage our company through the dramatically weakened state of the economy and the continued uncertainties in the capital, credit, and commodity markets."
The Associated Press' compensation formula is designed to isolate the value the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the last 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.
Ameren serves about 2.4 million electric customers and nearly 1 million natural gas customers in Missouri and Illinois.
