Rakteem Katakey: May 17, 2016
Two shareholder-advisory firms recommended investors vote against the Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden’s pay, saying his bonus is “excessive.” A third adviser said shareholders should give “qualified support.”
Van Beurden’s annual bonus, equivalent to 245 percent of his salary last year, was not acceptable, Pensions & Investment Research Consultants Ltd. said in an e-mail on Tuesday. Advisory firm Glass Lewis also said shareholders should oppose the pay deal.
Brent crude prices fell 35 percent in 2015, driving down oil companies’ earnings. Shell, which completed the acquisition of BG Group Plc this year, suffered a 31 percent decline in shares and a 53 percent drop in adjusted net income. A majority of shareholders rejected BP Plc CEO Bob Dudley’s 20 percent pay increase last month in an advisory vote.
“Shell’s executive compensation reflects delivery of our strategy, measured by both short-term and long-term targets,” a company spokesman said by e-mail. “There is a clear alignment between the company’s performance and our compensation policies.”
Bonus Disconnect
Van Beurden’s salary rose 2.1 percent to 1.4 million euros ($1.6 million) last year and his annual bonus increased 6.1 percent to 3.5 million euros, according to Shell’s annual report. Total compensation, including pensions and “tax equalization,” fell 77 percent to 5.58 million euros.
“The balance of CEO realized pay with financial performance is not considered acceptable,” PIRC said. Glass Lewis said it was concerned with Shell’s “disconnect between bonus payouts and financial performance” and recommended shareholders vote against the pay.
Institutional Shareholder Services, on the other hand, recommended “qualified support for the remuneration report,” according to a May 9 statement. “There is evidence that bonus payouts for the year were consistent with performance as measured and reported.”
Shareholder votes on pay in the U.K. are advisory and not binding on the company. Shell’s annual general meeting is scheduled to take place in The Hague on May 24.
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.
