From now on Royal Dutch Shell will only be called Shell. The company has now lost the royal predicate that had been attached to the oil and gas group since the end of the 19th century. The name has been formally changed and this has also been passed on to the stock exchanges in Amsterdam and London, among others. They will process the changes shortly.
The move was already announced last year. Shell has opted to become fully British on paper and to move its headquarters to the United Kingdom. As a result, it was not possible to maintain the royal predicate, which was still granted by the Dutch king William III. This happened in 1890 when the 'Royal Dutch Society for the Exploitation of Petroleum Resources in the Dutch East Indies' was set up. This merged with the British Shell at the beginning of the 20th century.
According to Shell, the move should ensure that the company can operate faster and more flexibly. Shell was already a British company, but the group had its head office in the Netherlands and was also located here for tax purposes. Shell's move was allegedly prompted by the non-abolition of dividend tax in the Netherlands. Earlier, Unilever also decided to become fully British on paper for that reason.
Shell CEO Ben van Beurden previously called the loss of the royal predicate "particularly painful and regrettable". But according to him, apart from the move of the top of the company to London, which will cost a few dozen jobs, nothing will change. Shell has approximately 8500 employees in the Netherlands and the company will continue to be active here in the development of sustainable energy, among other things.
