RUSSELL LYNCH: 7 June 2016
Royal Dutch Shell boss Ben van Beurden delivered a $1 billion (£688 million) present to the City today as he pumped up more savings from the oil major’s $54 billion mega-merger with rival BG Group.
The shares rose almost 3%, or 48p, to 1749p as the cost-cutting drive, which has stepped up a gear since the deal completed in January, now promises $4.5 billion in savings by 2018.
That compares with the $3.5 billion previously estimated.
The latest savings will not involve further job cuts on top of the extra 2200 announced two weeks ago by the firm, which took the total number of jobs shed through the merger to at least 12,500.