Revealed: South Australia’s highest paid bosses | Explore the list of eye-watering salaries

The CEOs of SA’s 20 largest ASX companies earn $1.8m a year on average, with the top-earning boss pocketing as much as 10 of his peers combined. See the full list of salaries.

South Australia’s best-paid listed company chief executive is paid as much as 10 of his peers combined, and that’s before his employer slapped on the golden handcuffs earlier this year.

Santos managing director Kevin Gallagher, who has been credited with digging the company out of a debt crisis and setting it back on a path for growth since taking over in 2016, was paid just more than $8m in calendar 2020, down about 28 per cent on the previous year.

Three quarters of that remuneration was “at risk”, or pay which is determined by measures such as the performance of the company.

While this year’s pay won’t be divulged until the company’s annual report is released next year, Mr Gallagher is already ahead of the game, with the board in April signing off on a $6m “once-off growth projects incentive” to deliver the oil and gas giant’s major projects out to 2025.

Mr Gallagher will need to earn the new payment, which will delivered in the form of share rights subject to strict performance hurdles.

But the package also had the benefit of knocking Mr Gallagher out of the race for the top job at Woodside Petroleum, which was up for grabs at the time.

Santos has since announced a merger with Oil Search which, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, will make it a “regional champion” in Mr Gallagher’s words, and with a value north of $20bn, one of top 20 listed companies in Australia by value.

Santos boss Kevin Gallagher has been credited with turning around the financial position of SA’s largest ASX-listed company. Picture: Mark Brake

Andrew Cole of OZ Minerals comes in second on the salaries list, taking home $4.16m, again with about three quarters of that “at risk”.

Mr Cole has been with the company since 2014, during which time it has launched the $1bn Carrapateena mine in the state’s Far North, developed an imminent project in Western Australia's Musgrave region, and branched out into South America.

With OZ delivering a total shareholder return of 32.7 per cent annually for the past five years it’s a good bet that shareholders in the $7.2bn company don’t begrudge him his fee.

OZ Minerals chief executive Andrew Cole is one of SA’s highest paid CEOs. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Mark Allison, who has held the top job at Elders since 2014, was paid $3.24m in FY20, coming in third on the list for SA. Elders can boast a five year return nudging 29 per cent, compared with the ASX200 at 10.57 per cent. Over the past year Elders returned 14.9 per cent, lagging the benchmark ASX200 which has delivered 30.6 per cent.

Elders chief executive Mark Allison has overseen a major improvement in the company’s financial performance in recent years.

Adelaide Brighton - managed out of Sydney but with strong SA roots - paid its boss Nick Miller $2.56m. AdBri almost doubled net profit for the first half to $56.6m, but warned at the time that the uncertainty caused by the pandemic limited the certainty with which it could make forward-looking statements.

The bosses at energy companies Cooper Energy and Beach Energy both saw their pay packets fall in the most recent reporting periods. David Maxwell at Cooper saw his pay drop 40 per cent to $2.39m, however with that report covering the 2020 financial year, Cooper’s recent woes with its Sole gas project would not be totally captured by that.

Beach Energy boss Matt Kay took home $2.2m last financial year. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Beach’s boss Matt Kay had a 14.5 per cent drop in pay to $2.2m over the 2021 financial year. The company’s shares dropped slightly over the period, and at current levels near $1.20 are well off levels above $2.70 enjoyed in early 2020.

A reserves downgrade at the company’s Western Flank project in the Cooper Basin, characterised as “a surprise on the downside” by Mr Kay, put downward pressure on the share price over the past few months.

Codan’s Donald McGurk, who was paid just more than $1.5m, has announced he will be retiring from the company in the next year or so. Mr McGurk is leaving the company in exceptional condition, delivering a record full year net profit last month, and presiding over annualised returns of 32 per cent over the past decade. The shares have taken a turn for the worse since his looming departure was announced, perhaps indicating the high esteem in which he is held.

Donald McGurk will leave the top job at Codan next year after posting an impressive run of results. Picture: Emma Brasier

Australian Vintage boss Craig Garvin was paid just more than $1.2m last financial year. One of few listed wine companies in Australia, AVG recently delivered a 79 per cent jump in profit, with its lack of exposure to the Chinese market and a very successful foray into the zero alcohol wine sector paying off.

SeaLink chief executive Clint Feuerherdt, who took the reins in January last year as part of the company’s $635m acquisition of commuter bus business Transit Systems, took home a little more than $2m last financial year, placing him seventh on the salaries list. The Transit deal helped the company reach more than $1bn in turnover last financial year, despite travel bans and lockdowns decimating tourism operations such as Captain Cook Cruises on Sydney Harbour. SeaLink’s share price and market capitalisation of close to $2bn is more than double what it was since the Transit deal was finalised.

SeaLink chief executive Clint Feuerherdt, right, took over from Jeff Ellison, left, as part of the company’s acquisition of bus transport business Transit Systems. The deal has helped the company weather the Covid-19 storm.

Fast-growing telecommunications firm Uniti Group has gone from a market capitalisation of a smidgen over $30m when it listed on the ASX in February 2019 to close to $2.9bn. And its senior executives and directors are sharing the spoils.

The pay packet of managing director and chief executive Michael Simmons more than doubled in 2020-21 to $1.1m as the company’s revenue surged 175 per cent to $159.9m, while net profit was up 83 per cent to $29.2m.

The pay packet of Andromeda metals managing director James Marsh rose to close to $1m in 2019-20, mainly due to an issue of options in the company. Andromeda shares reached a high of 41c earlier this year after it unveiled detailed plans for its Great White Kaolin Project on the Eyre Peninsula. Its shares have since fallen back to around 14c as it prepares the release of a definitive feasibility study later this year and first production early next year.