Financial Times
By Jonathan Guthrie
Published: July 30 2009 21:27 | Last updated: July 30 2009 21:27
The scallop, a generally sedentary mollusc, is given to moments of panic when it flaps around like the wind-up false teeth sold in joke shops. A similar spasm is agitating managers at Royal Dutch Shell, which has the shellfish as its emblem. Incoming chief executive Peter Voser told an analysts meeting on Thursday: We have too many people doing business with each other and not with the outside world. One-fifth of senior executives have already gone.
Outgoing chief executive Jeroen van der Veer, who was solid rather than brilliant, has left Mr Voser a useful legacy. It includes a cleaned-up corporate structure that will support acquisitions and investments that will start paying off in new production next year. Importantly, Mr Voser is untainted by the reserves mis-reporting scandal that rocked the Anglo-Dutch concern in 2004. He safely sat out that little imbroglio as chief financial officer of engineer ABB, during a two-year interlude in his 27-year career at Shell.
