Reuben Gregg Brewer: Jul 22, 2016 at 1:16PM
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A) (NYSE:RDS-B) has been hit just as hard by the oil industry downturn as any other oil major. So far, though, it’s managed to keep its dividend intact. Still, the company’s cash flow statement bears watching, because keeping that dividend going is getting harder to pull off. Here are two red flags to watch on Royal Dutch Shell’s cash flow statement.
Cash flow, not earnings
Shell’s earnings cratered following the mid-2014 oil price drop, going from around $3.00 a share in 2014 to just $0.60 or so last year. (Note that the U.S. traded ADRs represent two shares of Shell stock, so these figures and all of the other per share numbers in the text, which are based on one share of stock, may be half of what you expect to see if you own the ADR.) In the first quarter of this year, the integrated oil giant only earned about a dime a share. Clearly, things aren’t going well for Shell’s business right now. That’s understandable, since oil and natural gas prices play a big part in the company’s results, but there are implications to the bottom-line decline.
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.
