When publicly traded companies issue their proxy statements each year, they open a revealing window on ownership, governance and top pay structures.
Murphy USA’s proxy last month was a good example.
The El Dorado-based gasoline and convenience retailer added 32 new stores in 2024, bringing its total of Murphy USA and QuickChek locations up to 1,601 in 27 states.
“We have invested in our new store pipeline in preparation for accelerating our new store growth with a goal of putting up to 50 highly productive 2,800 square foot stores into service in 2025,” CEO Andrew Clyde told shareholders. “In addition to new store growth, we are razing and rebuilding our older kiosks, transforming them into 1,400 square foot stores and remodeling our larger format stores.”
The company also opened a “Store of Tomorrow” in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with an “updated look and feel with a bold color scheme, branding and new features such as self-checkout,” the proxy said.
The growth strategy that’s working well for Murphy USA, which spun off from Murphy Oil Corp. in El Dorado in 2013. The brand was long known for its small kiosks outside Walmart locations that offered mainly fuel, soft drinks and cigarettes. Its bigger stores now offer more prepared and hot foods, coffees and specialty drinks in a diverse range of options.
Margins were up for a fourth consecutive year in 2024, and while net income from continuing operations slipped to $502.5 million from $556.8 million in 2023, the company’s value per share continued a stunning run.
The price per share at the end of 2024 was $501.75, up from $356.56 a year earlier and $130.70 at the end of 2020. Market capitalization topped $10 billion last year, up remarkably from $357 million in 2020.
Clyde’s paycheck reflects all that success. His total 2024 compensation surpassed $11 million, up from $10.56 million in 2023. The proxy also summarized the value each named executive officer received from stock option exercises and stock grants that vested in 2024. In Clyde’s case, the total value realized when his stock awards vested was $18.4 million. The value derived on exercising his stock options was $8.2 million.
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mindy K. West also had a big year, with $3.85 million in total compensation and a $4.58 million value realized on vested stock.
Members of the company’s board of directors drew compensation ranging from $94,829 for Fred L. Holliger, who retired from the board in May, to $471,887 for Chair R. Madison Murphy.
Murphy’s first cousin, Claiborne P. Deming, received $322,794 for his service on the board. Deming, a longtime former CEO of Murphy Oil, is chair of that corporation’s board. Murphy Oil moved its headquarters from El Dorado to Houston in 2020.
Madison Murphy and Deming are both grandsons of Charles H. Murphy Sr., the south Arkansas banker, timberland owner and oilman who founded Murphy Oil.
The proxy statement also identified investors who own more than 5% of Murphy USA’s common stock. There are three, all major investment companies: BlackRock Inc. of New York, which owns 10.1%; the Vanguard Group of Malvern, Pennsylvania, which owns 10%; and FMR LLC of Boston, better known as Fidelity Investments, which owns 8.8%.
Deming, the proxy reveals, owns 3.36% of Murphy USA’s common stock. Madison Murphy owns 2.77%, and Clyde owns 1.78%.
The company will convene its annual stockholders meeting at 8 a.m. May 1 at its corporate headquarters at 200 E. Peach St. in El Dorado.
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