April 18, 2022
Dear TechnipFMC Shareholder;
We are writing to ask for your support in favor of all proposals in the Proxy Statement for the 2022 Annual General Meeting of shareholders of TechnipFMC which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 18, 2022.
In this communication, we are providing additional background and support regarding two specific proposals, and once again asking for your vote FOR each of them:
| • | | Proposal Number 2 – 2021 U.S. Say-on-Pay for Named Executive Officers |
| • | | Proposal Number 3 – 2021 U.K. Directors’ Remuneration Report |
A copy of the 2022 Proxy Statement is available at https://www.technipfmc.com/en/investors/regulatory-filings/sec-filings/def-14a-4073449/. In deciding how to vote on Proposal 2 and Proposal 3, we encourage you to consider and read the information disclosed in the 2022 Proxy Statement in addition to the information below.
Background information
Since the merger of FMC Technologies and Technip in 2017, the leading proxy advisory firms Glass, Lewis & Co (Glass Lewis) and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) have been supportive of TechnipFMC’s compensation practices, recommending a FOR vote each year on compensation-related proposals. Shareholders have also been supportive of TechnipFMC’s compensation. Most recently, TechnipFMC received an average of 85% FOR of votes cast in the past two years: 84.6% (2021) and 85.8% (2020).
2021 represented a year of significant structural change for TechnipFMC with the completion of the spin-off of Technip Energies, against a backdrop of global economic uncertainty, the oil and gas downturn and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Glass Lewis recognized the significant period of change during 2021 and impact of the Company’s recent spin-off on compensation plans during the year in review. Glass Lewis also noted a suitable structure of performance-based awards, include the changes for 2022 in our long-term incentive (LTI) plan design. For these reasons, Glass Lewis recommended a FOR say-on-pay vote.
In contrast, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), recommended an AGAINST vote on Proposal 2 and Proposal 3. While ISS noted that TechnipFMC’s short- and long-term incentive programs are primarily performance based, and noted the positive features of our program, the ISS vote recommendation was based on concerns on two specific items:
| • | | The company removed performance conditions for outstanding 2019 and 2020 performance awards in connection with the spin-off; and |
| • | | Performance awards may vest at target for achieving below median relative TSR performance. (Note: this concern has been mitigated in 2022 by a change to the performance award payout scale) |
We would like to provide shareholders with further context on the concerns raised by ISS and reiterate key actions we have taken to strengthen the link between pay and performance in our executive compensation program.
Alignment of Pay to Performance
Our executive compensation program links pay to performance:
| • | | Most of our executive compensation is variable. For 2021, 90% of the CEO’s compensation and 79% of compensation for other NEOs was variable and based on performance. |
| • | | 70% of our long-term incentive is performance based, which represents a higher weighting of performance-based equity compared to our peers and market prevalence. |
| • | | The industry downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a meaningful impact on the Company’s financial and stock price performance over the past several years, which directly impacted executive compensation. The CEO’s three-year average realizable compensation is projected to be approximately $3.2 million less than target compensation (or 24% below target) between 2019 and 2021. |
| • | | Declines in stock price have a direct impact on the value of long-term incentives. TSR is down 56% between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2021 and LTI granted to TechnipFMC executives between 2019 and 2021 is worth 37% less than the original target value. |
| • | | The Compensation and Talent Committee has demonstrated a history of responding swiftly and decisively to market changes. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and energy market decline, the Committee reduced the annual base salary for our Chair and CEO by 30% and for our other executive officers by 20% from May 2020 – December 2020. |