Total compensation for the top five employees at Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) has surpassed $2 million for the first time.
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In fiscal 2022-2023, they shared $2,061,280 compared to $1,964,000 a year earlier, a 5% increase.
These figures do not include the contributions to the pension fund made by SAQ. If they are added in 2022-2023, the bosses’ total compensation will be $2,387,618.
Catherine Dagenais, the CEO, saw a 2.6% salary increase to $542,236, or $572,330 with the retirement plan. She will retire with an additional check for $450,000 in the next few days.
Edith Filion, Chief Financial Officer, saw the largest increase this year at 8%. His salary increased to $513,129 when we include SAQ’s $85,136 contribution to his retirement plan.
Luc Bourdeau, vice president of supply chain, now makes $468,500 compared to $423,387 for Carl Boucher, head of IT.
Martine Comtois, engaged in corporate affairs, makes $347,836 or $410,272 from the retirement plan.
SAQ employs the equivalent of 5,609 full-time employees and generates $440.8 million in payroll. The median salary is $78,587, an increase of 6.6% compared to 2021-2022.
Increase in dividends paid to the state
This information can be found in the SAQ annual report published on Wednesday. The state-owned company’s earnings rose 5.6% over the period 2022-2023, which translates into a dividend of $1.4 billion.
A trend that has already been observed is confirmed: the SAQ sells less wine. Sales in the branch network and in the food trade fell by 800,000 liters, which corresponds to one million bottles of wine.
However, thanks to the two price hikes in the past few months, wine sales have increased in dollar terms.
If the SAQ sells less of its flagship product, it sells significantly more spirits (+ 1.5 million liters) and ready-to-drink beverages (+ 1.3 million liters).