Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. paid Keith Creel, chief executive officer, a total of $12.5-million in 2018, a year of record revenue for the Calgary-based freight hauler.
Mr. Creel made a salary of $1.4-million, unchanged from 2017, his first year as the head of Canada’s second-largest railway. His compensation for 2018 included $4.3-million in share-based awards, $2.5-million in stock options and $3.1-million in bonus, according to a CP regulatory filing issued on Wednesday.
Alabama-born Mr. Creel flew the company plane to visit his family in the United States, a benefit CP says is an “important retention tool” worth $411,000.
In 2017, Mr. Creel’s compensation was $20-million, driven by $10.5-million in stock options. Much of that amount was a special grant intended to retain Mr. Creel at a time his mentor and predecessor, Hunter Harrison, was angling for the top job at CSX Corp. To make the grant, CP reduced Mr. Creel’s long-term incentive plan compensation.
CP in 2018 posted record revenue of $7.3-billion, a 12-per-cent rise, and per-share profit of $13.61.
The railway’s share price rose by 5 per cent in 2018, compared with a 12-per-cent drop of the S&P/TSX Composite Index, and a 3-per-cent decline in the share price of Montreal rival Canadian National Railway Co.
CP said the value of stock options awarded to Mr. Creel since 2013 was worth $31-million at the end of 2018. Mr. Creel’s share-based awards were worth almost $15-million.
Eric Atkins