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May 15th, 2004:

Royal Dutch In Dispute With Regulator Over Bonus

The Wall Street Journal: Royal Dutch In Dispute With Regulator Over Bonus

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

May 15, 2004 8:09 a.m.

LONDON — Royal Dutch/Shell (RD, SC) has clashed with the Dutch financial regulator investigating the company’s reserves crisis over a bonus package granted to its chairman, the Financial Times reported Saturday.

The Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets, AFM, said bonus packages should be registered with them, but a Shell legal adviser said there is no legal obligation for the company to announce the potential multi-million pound share bonus plan for chairman Jeroen van der Veer at this time as the award is conditional, the FT said.
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Brown shows bosses the way

London Evening Standard: Brown shows bosses the way

Alex Brummer, Daily Mail

14 May 2004

E used to think of the public sector as sluggish and cautious and private corporations as fleet of foot. But as far as senior jobs are concerned there is a role reversal.

Gordon Brown has snatched David Varney, one of the country’s more impressive industrialists, from under the noses of Marks & Spencer, Shell and several other companies that might well have seen him as a future chairman.

The speed with which Varney has been through the rigorous approval process for public appointments is impressive. Brown only unveiled his plans to merge Customs & Excise and the Inland Revenue in his March Budget and a couple of months later the new man is parachuted into the job, without any of those mysterious leaks that accompany company board appointments.
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Varney takes big pay cut for challenge of top Revenue job

The Independent: Varney takes big pay cut for challenge of top Revenue job

By Philip Thornton, Economics Correspondent

14 May 2004

David Varney, the chairman of mmO2, is taking a substantial pay cut to head the merged Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise departments.

Mr Varney, who was seen as a candidate for the top job at Marks & Spencer, will implement the Government’s plan to merge the two bodies and to cut 14,000 jobs across the tax-collection services.

He will be paid between £130,000 and £150,000 ­ at the bottom end of the pay scale for a Whitehall permanent secretary ­ when he takes over as executive chairman on 1 September.
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This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Pumped up: the winners and losers from dearer oil

The Independent: Pumped up: the winners and losers from dearer oil

15 May 2004

If the cost of oil remains high, the knock-on effects will be serious and wide-ranging, says Jenne Mannion

Oil companies such as BP are obvious beneficiaries of the surging crude oil price, but there are far more stock market losers than winners. The crude oil price has touched around $40 (£22.60) a barrel in recent weeks, its highest point since October 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. This recent spike represents a 22 per cent increase this year.
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This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

City doyen takes Revenue hot seat

Daily Telegraph: City doyen takes Revenue hot seat

City doyen takes Revenue hot seat
By Tessa Thorniley 
(Filed: 14/05/2004)

David Varney sits on many government task forces

The Government yesterday appointed City heavyweight David Varney as the first executive chairman of the newly merged Customs & Excise and Inland Revenue.

 

Gordon Brown described the outgoing chairman of mobile telephone operator mmO2 as an “outstanding business leader with a first-rate, proven record across the private sector”. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Dutch eye Shell move

Daily Telegraph: Dutch eye Shell move  

15 May 2004

Shell defended a transfer of 63,000 shares in its sister company Royal Dutch, worth €2.6m (£1.7m), to its chairman Jeroen van der Veer. The Dutch financial watchdog was reported to be examining the transaction, but Shell said its was part of an approved long-term incentive scheme.

 

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Chemistry graduate charged with devising right formula

Financial Times: Chemistry graduate charged with devising right formula

By Matthew Jones and Robert Budden

May 14, 2004

David Varney has come a long way since, armed with a Surrey University chemistry degree, he enlisted in the ranks of Royal Dutch/Shell as a personnel assistant more than 35 years ago.

After working his way to the top of several big-hitting companies, gaining a reputation as one of the City’s most respected corporate figures, he is now set to become one of Britain’s highest-profile public servants, responsible for the biggest shake-up in Whitehall for more than 200 years.
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This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

MMO2 chief to head merged Revenue

Financial Times: MMO2 chief to head merged Revenue

By Christopher Adams Political Correspondent

May 14, 2004 

David Varney, chairman of MMO2, the mobile phone operator, became Whitehall’s biggest private sector catch yesterday when he was named as Gordon Brown’s choice to run the merged Revenue and Customs department.

*Mr Varney, 58, previously chief executive of BG and a former director of Shell, will take an 80 per cent pay cut when he leaves his lucrative FTSE 100 job. He begins his new role in September.
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This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell names new head of SEI project

Financial Times: Shell names new head of SEI project

By Carola Hoyos

May 14, 2004

Royal Dutch/Shell, Europe’s second-largest energy group, has named a relative newcomer as head of one of its most important, projects.

Ian Craig, who joined Shell when it acquired Enterprise in 2002, will take over as chief executive of Sakhalin Energy Investment, Shell’s largest project, in July.

The company has admitted the $10bn (£5.6bn) Russian oil and natural gas project is suffering cost overruns, which some insiders have put at as high as 20 per cent.
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This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Royal Dutch’s options prompt argument

Financial Times: Royal Dutch’s options prompt argument

By Ian Bickerton in Amsterdam and Carola Hoyos in London

Published: May 15 2004

Royal Dutch/Shell is caught in an argument over a potential multi-million pound share bonus package granted to its chairman.

Shell is at odds with the Netherlands Authority for Financial markets (AFM), the regulator investigating the company’s reserves crisis, over not registering performance-related packages granted to Jeroen van der Veer, chairman of its management committee. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Unilever united

The Guardian: Unilever united

Posted 15 May 2004

Great to see Unilever catching on to normal corporate governance by introducing the concept of non-executive directors for the first time yesterday.

Admittedly the group had wanted to for some time but was stymied by its Anglo-Dutch structure and the fact that non-execs were not recognised in Holland, where they have supervisory boards instead. But Dutch law has changed.

Unilever made do with “advisory board members” in Britain who were not directly responsible to shareholders.
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This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The end-of-the-pier show

The Guardian: The end-of-the-pier show

Wednesday May 12, 2004

Posted 15 May 04

Sara Parkin argues that the storm brewing on a beautiful Hebridean island is down to villagers’ anger over plans to develop a huge jetty for Shell oil tankers

As if losing almost a quarter of your oil reserves and a brace of your top executives isn’t enough, Shell has got a storm brewing in the tiny, beautiful Hebridean village of Bruichladdich on the island of Islay.

Argyll and Bute council has put in a planning application (to itself) to install a 127-metre oil terminal structure at the end of the existing pier. This is the only way, the council claims, to accommodate the new double-hulled oil tankers that, by law, have to replace the smaller, single-skinned vessels that delivered oil to the island in the past.
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This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell in row over executive bonuses

The Guardian: Shell in row over executive bonuses

David Gow

Saturday May 15, 2004

Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil group, was hit by fresh controversy yesterday after it was accused of failing to report a long-term bonus plan for senior executives to the Dutch financial regulator.

AFM, the financial market watchdog, said it was in talks with Royal Dutch/Shell about the issue of 63,000 shares -worth €2.6m (£1.75m) at yesterday’s prices – to chairman Jeroen van der Veer under a long-term incentive plan.
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This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.