Ex-Shell Bigwig Fuels Fears of London Exodus

Posted by John Donovan 9 April 2024

In a move with the City of London quaking in its well-polished brogues, former Shell honcho Ben van Beurden has sounded the alarm bells, warning that the company’s valuation in London compared to the Big Apple is a “major issue.”

Speaking from the Financial Times Global Commodity Summit in Switzerland, van Beurden lamented that Shell, the heavyweight champ of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a market cap of £118 billion, is being shamelessly undervalued. Cue the tiny violins!

With Shell’s share price soaring to an all-time high of £2,832 per share, you’d think they’d be popping champagne corks in the boardroom. But no, van Beurden insists they’re “massively undervalued” and eyeing up the land of opportunity across the pond.

Why, you ask? Well, according to van Beurden, the US is the promised land where oil giants frolic in higher stock valuations, bask in the warm embrace of friendly investors and have a golden ticket to unlimited capital. Meanwhile, poor old Europe is left sucking on the exhaust fumes of its disdain for conventional energy.

But wait, there’s more! Current Shell CEO Wael Sawan, ever the trendsetter, chimed in to echo van Beurden’s sentiments. In an interview with Bloomberg Opinion, Sawan declared the London exchange as “undervalued,” painting a picture of despair akin to a Shakespearean tragedy.

“I have a location that seems to be undervalued,” Sawan bemoaned, sounding more like a woeful protagonist than a high-flying CEO.

And if you thought this tale couldn’t get any more dramatic, think again! Van Beurden dropped the bombshell that discussions about moving Shell’s listing to New York were already in the pipeline during his tenure. It’s like a soap opera with oil execs and shareholder drama instead of love triangles.

So, there you have it, folks. While Shell’s bigwigs wring their hands over their paltry valuation in London, spare a thought for the poor investors left scratching their heads. Because when it comes to the high-stakes game of corporate finance, it’s Shell’s world, and we’re all just living in it.

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