Shell gets approval to simplify firm structure

LONDON — From now on, just call it Shell.

Royal Dutch Shell on Friday received approval from shareholders to simplify its archaic corporate structure, which grew out of the merger more than a century ago of a British firm that once traded in exotic seashells and an oil company in the Netherlands.

The changes will mean a single headquarters in London and one class of shares, instead of two, which Shell says will create faster payouts to shareholders and boost its shift to renewable energy amid criticism it has been slow to cut carbon emissions.

It comes as management resists pressure from some investors to break up the company into one business focusing on renewable energy and another for legacy fossil fuels.

The tensions illustrate the challenges oil companies face as they pivot from a business model that has generated huge profits and reliable dividend payments toward a more uncertain future tied to wind, solar and biofuels. With returns from the new ventures unknown, investors are demanding quick returns from existing assets, said David Elmes, an energy expert at the U.K.’S Warwick Business School.

Until now, Shell has had two separate classes of shares, one for its Dutch arm and one for its U.K. arm, which together comprised Royal Dutch Shell PLC, one of the world’s biggest oil companies.

Shell says its new corporate structure will allow it to accelerate share buybacks. The company has already promised to return $7 billion to shareholders as it completed the sale of assets in Texas and New Mexico to Conocophillips this year.