Moti Gutman, the veteran CEO of the Matrix IT services company, received record rewards in 2022 with a total cost of NIS 17 million, according to the annual report published by the company.
This, compared to rewards costing NIS 11 million in 2021, that is, a 55.5% increase.
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Gutman’s remuneration, one of the highest salaries in Tel Aviv, who in his years as CEO of Matrix accumulated more than NIS 100 million, last year consisted of management fees totaling NIS 3.2 million, a share-based payment of NIS 845,000, and the main component of the remuneration is a grant of approximately 13 a million shekels.
Last year, Gutman’s employment contract at Matrix, which he has managed since 2000, was extended until 2027. The terms of the contract include a base salary (management fee) of up to NIS 2.4 million per year, a financial bonus based on the company’s profits, a retention bonus of NIS 500,000 gross per year and a total of NIS 2.5 million, as well as the allocation of blocked shares worth NIS 28.5 million.
As in previous times, this time too, Matrix’s board of directors approved the rewards despite the opposition of the company’s shareholders’ meeting. This, on the grounds of Gutman’s contribution to the growth and reputation of the company, the increase in the share price and an increase in revenues and profit.
The grant ceiling increased in 2022
Even earlier in 2022, a certain change in the terms of Gutman’s employment was approved, which increased his annual grant cap. The grant is affected by the profit recorded by the company, among other things capital gains (up to 5% of them), and in 2022 Matrix presented a net profit of NIS 355 million, of which NIS 121 million is net capital gain due to the sale of 45.2% of the shares of Infinity Labs, which deals with training workers for the high-tech industry, to the fund AMI Investments (Apex).
In the fourth quarter of this year, Matrix recorded revenues of NIS 1.2 billion, an increase of 5% compared to the corresponding quarter, with a gross profit of 15% of turnover. The quarterly net profit amounted to NIS 53.2 million, a decrease of 12.8% compared to the corresponding quarter in 2021.
In the division by activity sectors, the information, consulting and management solutions and services sector in Israel grew by 3% to approximately NIS 2.5 billion, and its operating profit decreased by 3.4% to NIS 180 million.
The activity in the USA grew by 21.8% to NIS 435 million and its operating profit increased by 46.4% to NIS 60.2 million. There was no change in sales and support of software products, about NIS 271 million, but operating profitability eroded by 4.4% for NIS 24.2 million.
The cloud and training sectors each grew at a double-digit rate in revenue and at a higher rate in operating profit, with the cloud sector generating revenues of NIS 1.4 billion and operating profit of NIS 76.6 million in 2022.
In summary for the year, revenues increased by 7.2% to approximately NIS 4.67 billion, and the net profit attributed to the shareholders amounted to NIS 335 million, an increase compared to NIS 195 million in 2021. According to Gutman, “Matrix’s ability to continue to present record results consistently and for years, Including even in turbulent times of economic challenges, it testifies to the professional leadership, the business flexibility, the quality of the employees and managers in the company, as well as the stability and financial strength of the company.”
“The worsening of the economic situation will affect the results”
Matrix also states in the report that “these days the Israeli government is promoting changes in the legal system” and that there are experts’ opinions that these changes may have a negative impact on Israel’s economy. According to her, since the main activity is in Israel, the deterioration of the state of the Israeli economy, to the extent that it occurs, could have a negative effect on its results.