Remuneration

Sanoma's Annual General Meeting (AGM) determines remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors and Board committees. The remuneration and fringe benefits (total salary), short term incentives and pension benefits payable to the President and CEO and Executive Management Group (EMG) members as well as stock options or shares granted for senior executives are approved by the Board of Directors, in accordance with the Human Resources Committee's proposal.

 

President and CEO and EMG members do not receive separate remuneration for their management group membership or other internal management positions, such as Board memberships in the Group companies.

 

The short-term incentives are determined on the basis of achieving financial and non-financial objectives set annually. The weighting of the objectives and the maximum amount of the incentives vary according to the position of the person in question. Part of the Group also maintains a personnel profit-sharing system, annual payments from which are based on yearly operational results.

 

Short-term incentives are paid in March following the year of determination.

 

The maximum short-term incentive for the President and CEO is 50% of his salary at target level and 75% at maximum level. For other EMG members the short term incentive is 40% of salary at target level and 60% at maximum level.

 

The criteria in the short-term incentive plan for 2013 are based on achieving Group’s financial targets of EBIT, cash flow and new media sales as well as objectives related to supporting a higher performance culture.

 

Sanoma has adopted in 2013 Performance Share Plan replacing Sanoma’s option schemes, under which no new option grants will be made. The conditions and the issuance of the Performance Shares are decided on by the Sanoma Board of Directors in accordance with the Human Resources Committee’s proposal. In general, Performance Shares vest over 3-year period and vesting is subject to meeting Group performance targets set by the Board of Directors for annually commencing new plans. The performance measures for the first two-year performance period (2013-2014) are based on the earnings per share (excluding non-recurring items), and the development of digital and other new media sales. The President and CEO and EMG members are part of Sanoma’s Performance Share Plan.

 

Shares conditionally granted to the President and CEO and EMG members under the Performance Share Plan are subject to share ownership requirement that is determined by the Board of Directors in accordance with the Human Resources Committee’s proposal. Until the required share holding is achieved, the President and the CEO and EMG members are required to hold (and not sell) at least 25% of performance shares received.

 

Information on shares held by Sanoma’s President and CEO and other members of the EMG are presented in Note 32 of the Financial Statements. Updated information about their holdings is presented in the Insiders section.

 

Stock option schemes continue to run until their respective expiration dates with no new option grants being made as of 2013. The subscription period of each stock option scheme begins about three years after the granting and runs for three years. If the option holder's employment with Sanoma ends before the subscription period begins, the stock options will be returned to the Company.

 

Starting from Stock Option Scheme 2009, an obligation to own Company shares has been included in the granting of 35%−50% of the stock options to the President and CEO and EMG members. In order to be entitled to the granted stock options, President and CEO and EMG members must own the amount of Company shares that is determined by the Board of Directors.

 

Information on stock options held by Sanoma’s President and CEO and other members of the EMG are presented in Note 32 of the Financial Statements. Updated information about their holdings is presented in the Insiders section.

 

The remuneration of the President and CEO and other EMG members are decided on by Sanoma’s Board of Directors in accordance with the Human Resources Committee’s proposal. In addition to the total salary, the remuneration also comprises short-term incentives, stock options, performance shares (as of 2013) and pension benefits.

 

President and CEO Harri-Pekka Kaukonen started in his position as of 1 January 2011. In 2012, he was paid a total salary of EUR 630,000. In addition he was paid EUR 138,950 based on the 2011 short-term incentive plan. Other members of the EMG received EUR 3.6 million including bonuses as per the short-term incentive plan.

 

In 2012, the criteria in the short-term incentive plan were based on achieving Group’s objectives of earnings per share, cash flow as well as objectives related to supporting higher performance culture and One Sanoma projects.

 

An itemised statement on remuneration paid can be found in Note 32 of the Financial Statements. More detailed information on the management's relationships and connections to the Sanoma Group is provided in Note 31.

 

Updated information about the holdings of the President and CEO and other members of the EMG are presented in the Insiders section at the Sanoma.com website.

 

The President and CEO Harri-Pekka Kaukonen's period of notice is six months either from his or the Group’s part. If the executive contract is terminated by the company, a severance payment equaling to 12 month’s salary in addition to the salary for the notice period will be paid to the President and CEO. The severance pay is accompanied by a fixed-term non-competition clause.

 

Sanoma has a host of different pension arrangements to cover the pension security of its personnel. The additional pension benefits of the President and CEO and other EMG members are currently based on defined contribution. Contracts made prior to 2009 are based on defined benefit. According to his executive contract, Harri-Pekka Kaukonen will retire at the age of 63, and the additional pension benefit contribution amounts to 20% of his salary subject to statutory pension cover. The retirement age of other EMG members is 60–65 years. The pensions of the EMG members whose additional pension benefits are based on defined benefit plan, amount to 60% of their pensionable salary applicable in their home country, together with the statutory pension cover.