The government was taken by surprise by Shell’s decision to move its headquarters to London and ‘deeply regrets’ this move. This is what temporary Minister Stef Blok (Economic Affairs), said in an initial reaction via his spokesperson.
Royal Dutch Shell RDSA€19,60+1,59% came out with the plan on Monday morning before trading hours. The multinational would have informed the cabinet only on Sunday. We are unpleasantly surprised by this,’ responds the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which has already contacted the Shell top about the consequences of the move for Dutch jobs, ‘crucial investment decisions’ and sustainability.
According to Shell, the move is a consequence of simplifying the share structure. The oil company currently has so-called A and B shares. This complexity will come to an end: from now on, there will only be one Shell share. In this way, the company wants to be able to attract capital and make acquisitions more quickly and flexibly. Shell says that this will put it in a better position to seize opportunities and to play a leading role in the energy transition.
As a result of the decision, Royal Dutch Shell will also change its name. Because the company has opted for British nationality, ‘Royal Dutch’ will disappear from its official name.
Dividend tax
In the background, however, the dividend tax plays a major role. The intention follows less than a year and a half after Shell chief Ben van Beurden told the FD that he was thinking about leaving the Netherlands. The third Rutte cabinet initially wanted to abolish the dividend tax, but reversed this after criticism from the Lower House.
Shell is a British company, but has its headquarters in The Hague. The energy company chose this construction on the assumption that the dividend tax would be abolished, Van Beurden said in July 2020. In October 2018, the cabinet withdrew this intention after public pressure. As a result, Shell is looking at its current Anglo-Dutch structure with different eyes, the ceo said.
In a press statement on Monday, Van Beurden said he realises that this is a difficult message for many people. Nevertheless, I want to emphasise that the simplification of our structure is necessary to accelerate our strategy. In this way we can play a leading role in the energy transition’.
The move comes just weeks after hedge fund Third Point from US billionaire Daniel Loeb approached Shell about breaking up the group. The fund bought $750m worth of shares in the second and third quarters, and believes the oil and gas company should be split into two parts: one that derives revenue from fossil fuels and one that focuses on renewable energy.
Ceo, cfo and ten senior managers to London
As an English company, Shell will have its tax domicile in the United Kingdom. Board and management meetings will be held here. Only the CEO and CFO will move to London, along with fewer than ten (senior) managers.
The Netherlands gets a role in renewable energy. Shell claims to be one of the biggest drivers of the energy transition in the Netherlands. In the past two years alone, Shell has made almost €4 billion in investment decisions in this regard.
The global management of the development and integration of renewable energy takes place from the Renewables & Energy Solutions hub in The Hague and the new Energy Transition Campus in Amsterdam.
The Integrated Gas & Renewables and Energy Solutions, Upstream and Projects & Technology divisions will remain in The Hague. The change of structure has no further consequences for Shell’s activities in the Netherlands, including the refineries in Pernis.
Investors reacted positively on the stock exchange. The Shell share was 1.8% higher at €19.64 after twenty minutes of trading.
> Only the CEO and CFO will move to London, along with fewer than ten (senior) managers.
Shameful move of a fossil-fuel company to evade stricter environmental scrutiny by the public (see court order against the company to reduce emissions by 2030 in NL). No wonder it’s only the „dinosaur“ divisions, while the renewables & technology divisions stay in NL, most likely to receive EU funding within the Green Deal framework. Let’s just hope the UK will be equally as strict with the company when it comes to environmental standards, but considering the erosion of environmental regulations in the country (wastewater treatment for example) since Brexit I doubt it’s gonna happen.
The Dutch government statement makes it sound like their feelings have been hurt by this. Is there a gala for Shell that they can cancel?
If nothing else it might get the Dutch government to take climate change a bit more seriously.
The politicians can be bought cheaper here, in the UK
Dan leob just seems to go around random big companies and ask them to break up
I mean, they threatened to do it before. This had to be in the pipeline for some time.
I expected no less, and honestly good riddance. Now (if shareholders vote to leave) it isn’t the “royal dutch Shell” anymore who is fucking over this planet. Now it is just “shell”.
A finance bigwig made a business case and convinced CMD.
Am curious what the real business drivers is.
They just want to avoid paying taxes
Isn’t this a good thing? aren’t they trying to get out of oil and gas?
You can’t be Green and be trying to kill fossil fuels AND complain about fossil fuel companies moving away. “No, you need to STAY and let us torture and extract money from you!!”
19 comments
The government was taken by surprise by Shell’s decision to move its headquarters to London and ‘deeply regrets’ this move. This is what temporary Minister Stef Blok (Economic Affairs), said in an initial reaction via his spokesperson.
Royal Dutch Shell RDSA€19,60+1,59% came out with the plan on Monday morning before trading hours. The multinational would have informed the cabinet only on Sunday. We are unpleasantly surprised by this,’ responds the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which has already contacted the Shell top about the consequences of the move for Dutch jobs, ‘crucial investment decisions’ and sustainability.
According to Shell, the move is a consequence of simplifying the share structure. The oil company currently has so-called A and B shares. This complexity will come to an end: from now on, there will only be one Shell share. In this way, the company wants to be able to attract capital and make acquisitions more quickly and flexibly. Shell says that this will put it in a better position to seize opportunities and to play a leading role in the energy transition.
As a result of the decision, Royal Dutch Shell will also change its name. Because the company has opted for British nationality, ‘Royal Dutch’ will disappear from its official name.
Dividend tax
In the background, however, the dividend tax plays a major role. The intention follows less than a year and a half after Shell chief Ben van Beurden told the FD that he was thinking about leaving the Netherlands. The third Rutte cabinet initially wanted to abolish the dividend tax, but reversed this after criticism from the Lower House.
Shell is a British company, but has its headquarters in The Hague. The energy company chose this construction on the assumption that the dividend tax would be abolished, Van Beurden said in July 2020. In October 2018, the cabinet withdrew this intention after public pressure. As a result, Shell is looking at its current Anglo-Dutch structure with different eyes, the ceo said.
In a press statement on Monday, Van Beurden said he realises that this is a difficult message for many people. Nevertheless, I want to emphasise that the simplification of our structure is necessary to accelerate our strategy. In this way we can play a leading role in the energy transition’.
The move comes just weeks after hedge fund Third Point from US billionaire Daniel Loeb approached Shell about breaking up the group. The fund bought $750m worth of shares in the second and third quarters, and believes the oil and gas company should be split into two parts: one that derives revenue from fossil fuels and one that focuses on renewable energy.
Ceo, cfo and ten senior managers to London
As an English company, Shell will have its tax domicile in the United Kingdom. Board and management meetings will be held here. Only the CEO and CFO will move to London, along with fewer than ten (senior) managers.
The Netherlands gets a role in renewable energy. Shell claims to be one of the biggest drivers of the energy transition in the Netherlands. In the past two years alone, Shell has made almost €4 billion in investment decisions in this regard.
The global management of the development and integration of renewable energy takes place from the Renewables & Energy Solutions hub in The Hague and the new Energy Transition Campus in Amsterdam.
The Integrated Gas & Renewables and Energy Solutions, Upstream and Projects & Technology divisions will remain in The Hague. The change of structure has no further consequences for Shell’s activities in the Netherlands, including the refineries in Pernis.
Investors reacted positively on the stock exchange. The Shell share was 1.8% higher at €19.64 after twenty minutes of trading.
Read the full article: https://fd.nl/bedrijfsleven/1419431/shell-verplaatst-het-hoofdkantoor-naar-londen
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
It was said that companies were going to move from the UK to the EU, so why is the opposite happening?
This is the 2nd large multinational that is leaving the Netherlands for the UK, Unilever also made this decision.
Who is next?
Le shocked Brexit leopard eat Pikachu face
Here’s a link to BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59288593
> Only the CEO and CFO will move to London, along with fewer than ten (senior) managers.
Shameful move of a fossil-fuel company to evade stricter environmental scrutiny by the public (see court order against the company to reduce emissions by 2030 in NL). No wonder it’s only the „dinosaur“ divisions, while the renewables & technology divisions stay in NL, most likely to receive EU funding within the Green Deal framework. Let’s just hope the UK will be equally as strict with the company when it comes to environmental standards, but considering the erosion of environmental regulations in the country (wastewater treatment for example) since Brexit I doubt it’s gonna happen.
The Dutch government statement makes it sound like their feelings have been hurt by this. Is there a gala for Shell that they can cancel?
If nothing else it might get the Dutch government to take climate change a bit more seriously.
The politicians can be bought cheaper here, in the UK
Dan leob just seems to go around random big companies and ask them to break up
I mean, they threatened to do it before. This had to be in the pipeline for some time.
I expected no less, and honestly good riddance. Now (if shareholders vote to leave) it isn’t the “royal dutch Shell” anymore who is fucking over this planet. Now it is just “shell”.
A finance bigwig made a business case and convinced CMD.
Am curious what the real business drivers is.
They just want to avoid paying taxes
Isn’t this a good thing? aren’t they trying to get out of oil and gas?
You can’t be Green and be trying to kill fossil fuels AND complain about fossil fuel companies moving away. “No, you need to STAY and let us torture and extract money from you!!”
I can distinctly recall reading that this was on the cards back when Unilever did the same. This article, over a year old, mentions a Shell move being discussed in July 2020: [https://news.sky.com/story/unilevers-london-switch-could-herald-further-change-for-the-marmite-maker-12078050](https://news.sky.com/story/unilevers-london-switch-could-herald-further-change-for-the-marmite-maker-12078050)
The idea that the Dutch government was blindsided is spin at best.
Imagine sucking Shell cock for decades and then still getting blindsided.
A government bureaucrat blindsided by the consequence of their own actions? shocking
A huge company moving so it has to pay less tax? Who could have seen that one coming.
Shell: I’m moving byeeee 🚢💨
The gov: 🥲