CNN: Shell pushes back AGM: Oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell has decided to delay shareholder meetings that will vote on a new unified board structure to allow more time to prepare the necessary documentation. Shell, the world's third-largest oil group, expects to complete a review of its oil and gas reserves by the year end, it added in a statement on Friday, as it seeks to rebuild investor confidence after an earlier reserves scandal. (ShellNews.net) 26 Nov 04
Friday, November 26, 2004
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell has decided to delay shareholder meetings that will vote on a new unified board structure to allow more time to prepare the necessary documentation.
Shell, the world's third-largest oil group, expects to complete a review of its oil and gas reserves by the year end, it added in a statement on Friday, as it seeks to rebuild investor confidence after an earlier reserves scandal.
Shell plans to publish its fourth-quarter results on February 3 and will now hold its annual general meetings (AGM) for shareholders on June 28.
The Anglo-Dutch group had previously expected to hold its shareholder meetings in April.
The company also expects to announce its second interim dividend on February 3.
Shell announced plans in October to move to a unified corporate structure to improve its governance after it shocked investors in January by slashing its proven oil and gas reserves by about 20 percent.
Subsequent smaller reserves cuts, while not as dramatic as the first, further dented investor confidence.
Shell said it would ditch its century-old dual ownership, under which one board dealt with Netherlands-based Royal Dutch and another handled UK-based Shell Transport & Trading.
The reserves scandal led to the ousting of its previous top directors, resulted in around $150 million in regulatory fines and raised serious questions about corporate governance at Shell.
The group said on Friday that its review of oil and gas reserves was on track.
"As announced on 28 October 2004, the review of proved oil and gas reserves is continuing on schedule, and to the extent possible, the remaining proved reserves that have not yet received detailed review will be audited prior to the end of 2004," the company said in a statement.
"Also as announced on 28 October, this review may require a restatement of previous periods to allocate revisions to the year concerned," it added.
The company will give an update on its proved reserves on Feb. 3 but a Shell spokesman said it would in the mean time inform the market should any material reserve recategorisations come to light.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/11/26/shell.agm.reut/