FROM OUR JULY 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE…
The Independent: Rudderless Shell still worth backing
“The company has also created a single board, after blaming its double-headed, dual-nationality structure for the disasters of recent years. Shell had been overstating its reserves of oil, and had to fess up last year, cutting the number by one-third. But only last week the company revealed the development of its Sakhalin natural gas field in Russia was 100 per cent over budget, a whopping extra cost of $10bn (£5.8bn) that had not even been hinted when Shell sold part of the field earlier this month.”
The Investment Column: Edited by Stephen Foley
Published: Thursday 21 July 2005
Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, has merged its Anglo half, Shell Transport & Trading, with its Dutch half, Royal Dutch. If you owned 100 Shell shares on Tuesday, you now own 29 Royal Dutch Shell shares. They fell in value a little on their stock market debut yesterday, but hang on to them.
Strictly speaking, you own Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ shares, while Netherlands investors own ‘A’ shares. The difference is that ‘A’ shares attract a Dutch tax, but that will usually be reflected in the lower price of the ‘A’ shares. It is all a little confusing and UK investors might as well stick to the ‘B’ shares, but the important thing is that the company you own still has the same assets and prospects as it had at the start of the week.