All in all, the total value of the Pension Funds investments has declined by some 40% since the start of this year.
December 13th, 2008:
THE SHELL PENSION FUND LETTER WHICH HAS MADE NEWS AROUND THE WORLD
Shell’s pension underfunded, contributions must rise
The fund said in a letter sent to its members this week that its funding ratio -- a measure of how well a pension scheme can meet its liabilities -- was 85 percent at the end of November, down from 180 percent at the end of 2007. A full copy of the letter is published on activist website royaldutchshellplc.com.
Will Voser close Shell Centre? Dont bet against it!
New top men in Shell, at least in recent times, have wanted to do something to imprint their style and authority on the organisation. From Cor Herkstroter onwards successive CEOs have talked of change, usually with buzz words like transformation. In the 1990s and into the new millennium the argot at the top often talked about New Shell and Old Shell with those of us with thirty years or more service often being seen as prehistoric relics of the Old Shell era. New Shell was to be different. Lighter on its feet, more responsive to the world around and, above all, less burdened with unnecessary costs. When this type of imperative comes from the top then there can be only one result ruthless cost-cutting measures in the middle and the lower tiers of the organisational hierarchy. It was this ideology which led inexorably, in the downstream, to the reduction of staffing in operating company offices around the world and the greater centralisation of decision-making. Death by a thousand cuts.
Shell ordered to make up pension shortfall
PLUNGING equity markets have seen the total assets of Royal Dutch Shell's Dutch pension fund fall below the level required by Holland's central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).
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Even sector heavyweights such as Royal Dutch Shell PLC have been affected: the Anglo-Dutch major is holding off on around 200,000 barrels a day of extra capacity in an effort to cut costs
Shell pension scheme value falls 40%
FT: The letter was published by royaldutchshellplc.com, a website used to air complaints against Shell. The letter said that its assets were 70 per cent invested in equities and there was an above average allocation to emerging markets, both sectors that have suffered badly in the downturn.