The Telegraph is reporting that, just two years after saying ¡Adios! to the Netherlands and relocating to London, Shell is now considering shouting ¡Hasta la Vista! to London and the UK and relocating to…wait for it…¡Ciudad Nueva York!
Bemoaning his company’s underperformance compared to US peers ExxonMobil and Chevron, Shell CEO Wael Sawan is quoted by the Telegraph as saying, “The company is massively undervalued…the share price today is at an all-time high, but it could be significantly higher from where it is today.” He said a host of factors “conspire against the [companies] listed in Europe.”
That “host of factors” includes, to no one’s surprise, the turbulence in the UK’s politics, which leads to an unpredictable policy situation in which companies are constantly buffeted by radical shifts in taxes, energy and climate policies. With the communist-adjacent British Labor Party set to move into control of the central government in upcoming elections, that policy turbulence will inevitably grow more intense in the years to come.
Go figure.
It all results in an under-valuation of the company and a depressed stock price which renders Shell more vulnerable to hostile investors and even eventual takeover by better-funded companies.
“Shell is attracting lower valuation due to negative sentiment towards oil and gas companies and [an] aggressive green agenda in Europe,” says Panmure Gordon analyst Ashley Kelty. “An anti-business environment is growing, and the demonisation of energy companies does not help investment.”
Oh. You don’t say.
Given its status as the biggest UK-headquartered corporation, a sudden exit by Shell would no doubt prove disastrous for the entire British economy. But hell, no one in the government in either major party seems to care, so why should Sawan?
One Shell shareholder puts it quite succinctly, saying, “The dam would be broken. If you’re thinking of listing (on the London exchange), why would you consider listing in the UK if everyone is leaving? Why jump into a ship that appears to be leaking?” (It’s a question passengers on the Titanic, which sank on this very date 112 years ago, might have wanted to ask.)
Why, indeed? It’s also a question no one in Rishi Sunak’s cabinet seems to have the mental clarity to ask.
Shell probably isn’t going anywhere, of course, despite Sawan’s complaints. But if it does happen, British political figures would only have to look in the nearest mirror to see who is to blame.
That is all.
We've been here many, many times before with non-execs on expenses. If they want to leave, please do so - and give us back our tax cash. It does look like the CEO wants to do shopping in NY rather than London.
They really hurt themselves with that last Woke Euro CEO who finally got shown the door, maybe Shell can recover from lameness?