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Shell ‘is getting far too Dutch’

Screen Shot 2013-12-21 at 00.36.50A senior executive at a leading City institution, who asked not to be named, said British investors were not being treated on a par with their Dutch counterparts. He said this was symptomatic of a trend that has seen the company increasingly consolidating power in The Hague and forgetting its British heritage. The oil giant last year scrapped a London event that featured a live TV link-up to its annual meeting in The Hague, sparking outrage among investors.

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Screen Shot 2013-12-21 at 00.26.46By Rob Davies: 

Shell is coming under growing pressure from shareholders to hold every other annual meeting in London, with one major investor warning that the firm is becoming ‘too Dutch’.

A senior executive at a leading City institution, who asked not to be named, said British investors were not being treated on a par with their Dutch counterparts.

He said this was symptomatic of a trend that has seen the company increasingly consolidating power in The Hague and forgetting its British heritage.

The oil giant last year scrapped a London event that featured a live TV link-up to its annual meeting in The Hague, sparking outrage among investors.

A growing number want Shell to reinstate the live event and to go one step further by staging the meeting in London once every two years, something it has so far refused to countenance.

Louise Rouse, of investor campaign group Share Action, said: ‘I see no reason why Shell could not at the very least agree to alternate venues each year.’

She said many UK shareholders travelled to The Hague at their own expense last year, but still turned up in similar numbers to Dutch shareholders, suggesting a London event would be equally well attended.

Last year, retail investors who were denied a live link to the AGM were instead offered a presentation with chief executive Peter Voser and chief finance officer Simon Henry several days later.

But Rouse said this scaled-down event was ‘no substitute’ for an AGM, where investors are typically keen to question non-executives on their ability to influence executives’ decisions.

‘Royal Dutch Shell’s decision to abandon a London video link to its AGM in The Hague is a disservice to its UK based shareholders,’ she added.

A spokesman said the TV link-up had not been popular, adding that there were no plans to change the format of its annual meetings to appease any disgruntled British investors.

Swiss chief executive Voser became the first Shell boss not to be either Dutch or British when he took over in 2009. He will be succeeded by Dutch refining and marketing chief Ben van Beurden after earlier this year announcing his retirement, to pursue a ‘lifestyle change’.

British finance director Simon Henry was among the favourites to succeed Voser, but lost out to van Beurden.

The firm has not been run by a Briton since Sir Philip Watts chaired Shell Transport & Trading Company’s committee of managing directors before it merged with Royal Dutch Petroleum to create Royal Dutch Shell in 2005.

His tenure saw the beginning of the end of the old City adage ‘Never sell Shell’, amid setbacks such as the 2004 reserves scandal, when the firm was caught inflating the size of its oil reserves. It later had to downgrade its reserves estimate by 4.5billion barrels, while Watts was forced out over the affair.

In its subsequent Anglo-Dutch era, Shell has suffered problems in Nigeria, where oil spills have led campaign groups to question whether its presence is of overall benefit to the West African nation.

Last year, an accident involving its Kulluk rig forced it to put on hold controversial plans to drill for oil in the Arctic circle.

The company, which saw third-quarter pre-tax profit fall 31 per cent to £2.65billion, has also had to defend the wisdom of its record £27.5billion spending in 2013 to frustrated investors, who want it to return more of its cash to them.

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