BLOOMBERG: Shell Chief Pledges Everything to Maintain Its ‘Iconic’ Dividend
by Nidaa Bakhsh and Mark Barton
(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden pledged to do all he can to maintain payments to shareholders of Europe’s largest oil company after crude prices fell by more than half in the past six months.
“We have a very long-term dividend policy and I’m not minded to change that,” Van Beurden said in an interview today with Bloomberg Television. “The dividend is an iconic item at Shell and I will do everything to protect it.”
Shell, which missed analysts’ expectations for fourth-quarter earnings today, plans to pay a first-quarter dividend of 47 cents a share, unchanged from the previous two quarters, the Hague-based company said in a statement. The company is cutting its capital spending by $15 billion over three years to help it weather the collapse in oil prices and keep paying shareholders.
The industry is scurrying to protect returns for investors as crude below $50 a barrel guts cash flows. Statoil ASA, Tullow Oil Plc and Premier Oil Plc have delayed projects or cut exploration spending. BP Plc has frozen wages and Chevron Corp. delayed its 2015 drilling budget.
“While Shell does not cover its dividend organically in a $50-$70 per barrel oil-price environment, other majors, e.g. BP, are worse off,” Kim Fustier, an Edison Investment Research analyst, said in an e-mailed note. “Shell’s robust balance sheet and ability to sell assets means it can comfortably maintain its current dividend over the medium term.”
Shell reported profit excluding one-time items and inventory changes was $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $2.9 billion a year earlier. That missed the $4.1 billion average of 13 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Shell “isn’t immune to low oil prices and that puts pressure on the investment program,” Van Beurden said in the interview. About 40 projects will be affected by the cuts, he said. “We can weather the storm.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Nidaa Bakhsh in London at [email protected]; Mark Barton in London at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at [email protected] Tony Barrett, Alex Devine
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 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.
