Shell’s acquisition of rival company BG is likely to hurt its finances, making its dividend look more uncertain CREDIT: ARND WIEGMANN
By Laura Suter: 28 OCTOBER 2016 • 8:59AM
Tom Walker, manager of the Martin Currie Global Portfolio, has 59pc of his fund’s assets in American companies. While he is concerned about the outcome of the election, he does not think a Trump win will necessarily be terrible for the American economy or for the companies he invests in.
Mr Walker, who has run the fund since its launch, tells Telegraph Money why he recently invested in one giant Chinese firm and why he cut Royal Dutch Shell from the portfolio.
We have fairly large holdings in energy firms, which means we have benefited from the big rise in the oil price in the first half of the year. We have taken a bit of money out of those stocks and have sold out of Shell.
We think with oil prices at $55 a barrel Shell can probably maintain its dividend but it is going to rely on asset sales to do so as cashflow from its operations is not sufficient and it has quite a lot of debt following the BG acquisition. I also know a lot of people own Shell just for the dividend so I worry that if it cuts the dividend, that will cause a sell‑off.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
