Financial Times: Disappointment as Shell reveals weak results
“Shell, which this month united its Dutch and UK holding companies, is struggling to keep up. It lags behind competitors in production growth, faces lawsuits in the US over false reserves statements and announced a $10bn cost overrun at Sakhalin-2, the flagship Russian project.”
By Carola Hoyos in London
Published: July 28 2005 19:20
Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s third biggest listed energy group, disappointed investors on Thursday as its first earnings report as a unified company revealed weaker-than-expected results.
Second-quarter cost of supply net profit, which excludes gains on fuel stock and non-operational charges, was $5.17bn, compared with expectations of $5.44bn.
Jonathan Copus, analyst at Investec Securities in London, said: “This is a disappointing set of numbers and we will be reviewing our forecasts.”
This week, BP, Shell’s European rival and the world’s second biggest oil company by market capitalisation, reported a 29 per cent rise in second-quarter net profits to $4.98bn, on the back of the high oil prices. The comparable number at Shell was $4.63bn, up 26 per cent.
ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, recorded second-quarter net income of $7.6bn, up 32 per cent from the same quarter last year, but also below analysts’ forecasts.
Shell, which this month united its Dutch and UK holding companies, is struggling to keep up. It lags behind competitors in production growth, faces lawsuits in the US over false reserves statements and announced a $10bn cost overrun at Sakhalin-2, the flagship Russian project.
Jeroen van der Veer, Shell chief executive, said that Bonga, one of Shell’s most important projects in Nigeria, would also be delayed. “We know we have very much to do, especially in improving our exploration and production project delivery,” Mr van der Veer said.
Shell’s share buybacks will total $3bn-$5bn this year, while in production it expects to stem declines in older fields rather than grow total volumes. In contrast, BP increased its share buybacks to $6bn in the second half of the year, while maintaining its pledge to lift oil and natural gas production by 5 per cent.
The company said it would increase the amount it spent on exploration in 2005 and 2006 from $1.5bn a year to $1.8bn. It left unchanged its estimate of $15bn of total capital expenditure for 2005. But analysts said bad news could be on the way, noting that the overall investment programme for 2006 would be subject to review this year.
The company’s London-traded B-shares fell 1.7 per cent to £17.59p. In Amsterdam its A-shares dropped 1.2 per cent to €24.75
Additional reporting by Malini Guha in London
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
