Remainers proved wrong as Shell boss hints at switching HQ from Netherlands to London
OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell could relocate its headquarters from the Netherlands to the UK in a post-Brexit boost for the country.
By JOE BARNES, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, hinted the company is seeking to simplify its complex capital structures. The potential move would be considered a significant victory for Britain in the months after quitting the European Union. Just last month Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group, revealed it would merge its British and Dutch holding companies into one based in London.
Asked whether Shell could replicate Unilever, Mr van Beurden told Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad: “One always needs to keep thinking.
“Nothing is permanent and, of course, we take the investment climate into account.
“But moving your HQ is not a trivial measure, one should not be too easy about that.”
The oil giant is one of the largest listed companies in the UK, with a market capitalisation of £100 billion and more than 80,000 employees around the world.
Royal Dutch Shell has revealed that it paid no corporate income tax in the UK in 2018 despite raking in $731m (£557m) of pre-tax profit on revenues of $108bn in the country.
Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) has published a new report detailing the corporate income tax that Shell companies paid in countries and locations around the world in 2018.
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The British-Australian newspaper The Guardian discovered that Shell Energy Holdings Australia is trying to “get under” *(evade/dodge/escape/deflect?) the bill through the courts.
Pedestrians walk past a Shell station in Melbourne. Photo: Carla Gottgens / Bloomberg
