Play the hits, ASX. Pic: WestEnd61/WestEnd61 via Getty Images
Monsters of Rock: Coal, lithium, uranium stocks continue to rock and Mike Henry’s BHP pay packet will make you cry
Mining
share
Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) shares stormed to an all time high after JP Morgan slapped a $4.10 price target on the battery metals monster, lifting 7% to $3.96 a share, with the rest of the lithium sector charging in tow.
Allkem (ASX:AKE) rose 4.3% to $14.06, IGO (ASX:IGO) put on 1.89% to $12.96 and Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) rising almost 10%.
Coal miners also continued to rise, with Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) up 3.65% to $8.80 and Yancoal (ASX:YAL) up 6.34% to $6.71. New Hope Corp (ASX:NHC) gained 6.12%.
Today’s market continued the dominance of the coal, lithium and uranium thematics that have run the ASX mining sector for the past month as other metals have faltered on negative news coming out of China, the main customer for most commodity markets.
They defied broader negativity in the sector which followed this afternoon’s rate rise, with the materials sector down 0.7% and energy up a bare 0.5% as the ASX 200 fell 0.38%.
Monstars share prices today:
Mike Henry’s pay will make you cry tears of despair
BHP’s (ASX:BHP) erstwhile boss Mike Henry has pulled in over $20 million for the second straight year, feasting on a host of long term incentive bonuses and commodity prices over which he has no control.
Those of us frowning at the news of yet another rate rise may feel a little despondent reading figures like that.
Certainly BHP’s economic contribution report got a bigger PR workout. CEO Henry’s US$14.667m pay package is largely unchanged from last year but comes in at 123 times BHP’s median take home pay at the company.
Don’t be sad if you’re on the lower rungs though.
“The Group believes the median pay ratio reflects the diversity of our global business footprint and employee population,” BHP said in its remuneration report.
“BHP’s remuneration policies and practices are based on a high degree of alignment and consistency, with total remuneration at all levels providing a competitive package that enables the attraction and retention of talent while also providing at-risk remuneration based on performance.”
Indeed, Henry’s base salary before all the share and cash bonuses are taken into account is only US$1.7 million. Much of the bonus pay is yet to vest, with equity instalments due in 2025 and 2027, while the total haul would have been far less under the remuneration framework BHP’s board adopted in 2019.
Henry’s LTIP awards date back to his time as Minerals Australia chief in 2016 and 2017 before the new pay structure came into place.
Other disclosed pay packets after incentives were taken into account include new chief operating officer Edgar Basto (US$3.22m), CFO David Lamont (US$4.481m), new President of Australian ops Geraldine Slattery (US$4.248m) and President of American ops Ragnar Udd (US$2.872m).
