In determining the compensation of the Company’s NEOs for 2024, the Compensation Committee considered many quantitative and qualitative performance factors, including the financial performance of the Company, return on equity, cash flow, return on assets, growth, management of assets, liabilities, capital, liquidity and risk. The Compensation Committee also considered intangible factors such as the scope of responsibility of the NEO leadership within the Company, the community, the applicable industries in which the Company operates and the enhancement of shareholder value.
When establishing performance criteria for each of the NEOs and for the management team as a group, the Compensation Committee endeavours to balance short-term and long-term performance of the Company and cumulative shareholder value.
All factors are considered in the context of the market for Balchem’s products and services, and the complexity and difficulty of managing business risks in the prevailing economic conditions and regulatory environment.
The Compensation Committee believes that the total compensation provided to the NEOs is competitive and has been demonstrated as effective. Details regarding the NEO compensation are set forth in the tables that follow.
Compensation Consultants
The Compensation Committee has authority to engage attorneys, accountants and consultants, including executive compensation consultants, to solicit input concerning compensation matters, and to delegate any of its responsibilities to one or more directors or members of management, where it deems such delegation appropriate and permitted under applicable law.
To better understand the compensation practices of similar companies, the Compensation Committee from time to time, reviews data gathered from a custom peer group. In late 2023, the Compensation Committee, upon close consultation with Pearl Meyer, completed a review and update of Balchem’s peer group. Peer group information serves as the primary reference point for the Compensation Committee with Pearl Meyer’s market survey data used as a secondary reference. The peer group was refreshed in December 2023 and was used for benchmarking purposes in 2024.
2024 Peer Group Companies
The following companies comprised our peer group for 2024:
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| Ashland Global Corp. | | | Hain Celestial Group | | | Minerals Technologies | |
| Avient Corp. | | | H.B. Fuller Co. | | | MGP Ingredients | |
| Azek Company | | | Hexcel | | | Quaker Chemical Corp. | |
| Cabot Corp. | | | Ingevity Corp. | | | Sensient Technologies | |
| Celsius Holdings | | | Innospec Inc. | | | The Simply Good Foods Co. | |
| CSW Industrials | | | J&J Snack Foods Corp. | | | Stepan Co. | |
| Element Solutions | | | Lancaster Colony Corp. | | | Treehouse Foods | |
| FMC Corp. | | | | | | | |
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This peer group was developed based on comparability to the Company in terms of industry and size (revenue and market capitalization). In December 2023, based upon a peer group review and recommendations from Pearl Meyer, the Compensation Committee approved the current peer group. The changes were made to enhance the alignment of the peer group with the current size of Balchem and the markets that we serve.
Benchmarks
While compensation survey data and benchmarking are useful guides for comparative purposes, we believe that a successful compensation program also requires the application of judgment and subjective determinations, particularly with respect to individual performance. Accordingly, our Compensation Committee applies its judgment to adjust and align each individual element of our compensation program with the broader objectives of the program. For example, we consider other factors, including, but not limited to, the Company’s historical compensation trends; recommendations of the CEO; the performance of