James Hardie rewards Aaron Erter's failure
What would it actually take to get paid a zero bonus?
We return to an old favourite: James Hardie Industries. On Thursday, the Dublin-incorporated, Chicago-headquartered, ASX-listed building materials company published the customary bundle of materials ahead of its annual general meeting on August 20. That promises to be a relatively staid affair, though anything would be after last year's AGM, where three directors (including the chair) were voted off the board, the remuneration report was defeated and CEO Aaron Erter's return on capital-based bonus was specifically nixed.
Joe Aston
Unlike his terminated predecessor Anne Lloyd who was seemingly allergic to air travel, James Hardie's new chair Nigel Stein has journeyed to Australia on multiple occasions since then, including a trip in April specifically to consult with investors on executive remuneration. The forty-or-so pages of compensation-related disclosures in Thursday's AGM bundle are the mixed product of those consultations.
For financial 2026 (the company reports on a March year-end), Erter is receiving bonuses of US$703,872 ($1 million) in cash and another 152,238 James Hardie shares worth $5.6 million. That includes half of his target short-term bonus and two-thirds of his maximum long-term bonus award linked to the company's return on capital employed (ROCE).[[There is a further long-term bonus component – linked to James Hardie's relative total shareholder returns – under which Erter could receive a further award for FY26 but that won't be finalised until mid-August.]]
