…the Square Mile today claimed the new year will be a “new dawn” for Royal Dutch Shell… time to snap up Shell because its new boss, Ben van Beurden, who started this month, will put its house in order.
Laura Chesters : Friday, 10 January 2014
Last year wasn’t great for oil majors — they underperformed the whole market — but the Square Mile today claimed the new year will be a “new dawn” for Royal Dutch Shell.
City slickers at Exane BNP Paribas said it is time to snap up Shell because its new boss, Ben van Beurden, who started this month, will put its house in order.
Exane predicted Shell will sell off more assets this year and have a “more shareholder-friendly approach” with more dividend payouts and be better “disciplined” with its cash.
Punters took note and Shell spurted up 35.5p to 2300.5p. But Exane fell out of love with Shell’s rival BP and downgraded it to neutral. Exane said despite management addressing various issues after its Mexican oil spill, progress “is more gradual than we had anticipated”. Investors responded and BP slipped 2.3p to 493p.
