Facing FACTS!

In life, we have to accept the world as it is and NOT how we would wish it to be!
The above combi image demonstrates this. You see, feminists would see the image of the attractive young lady wearing only her underwear as an exploitative oppression by heterosexual, mainly white, middle class men -such as my very bad self – of women! Their belief is however fatally undermined by the FACTS! You see, the young lady – a professional model – was paid to provide the image not for the titillation of heterosexual, mainly white, middle class men – such as my very bad self, but for the purpose of selling the said underwear to women – the vast majority of whom will be heterosexual!
This of course is a FACT that members of the Women’s Equality Party deem unacceptable and thus prefer to ignore it!
But ignoring FACTS does not make them go away!
Similarly, the continued existence – as a roadworthy vehicle – of ERU 388L, a 1973 Series 1 SWB Daimler Double Six – demonstrates the potential lifespan of all “fossil fuel” vehicles presently on the road. This is because the Jaguars and Daimlers produced by the then British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC) were not designed to last very long and very definitely not for 48 years!!!!
But then of course, facing FACTS is not something members of groups such as Extinction Rebellion do. They prefer to exist in their own comfortable fantasy world where the world’s problems can be laid at the feet of those horrible, heterosexual, mainly white, middle class men – such as my very bad self – who own shares in companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and whose greed and selfishness is threatening the future of their children and grandchildren!
In the blog-posts of the 24th and 25th, I speculated about the prospects of a merger between Royal Dutch Shell and BP, formerly known as British Petroleum.
On the 26th, a Dutch court issued a ruling that delighted the anti-CO2 brigade.
A certain Judge Larisa Alwin read out a ruling at a court room in The Hague, ordering Shell (RDSa.L) to reduce its planet warming carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels.
“The court orders Royal Dutch Shell, by means of its corporate policy, to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 with respect to the level of 2019 for the Shell group and the suppliers and customers of the group,” Judge Alwin said.
GOTO: https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/dutch-court-orders-shell-set-tougher-climate-targets-2021-05-26/
A positive reaction from the anti-CO2 activists was expected; “Today was a stark warning for Big Oil,” opined Bess Joffe, of the Church Commissioners for England, which manages the Church of England’s investment fund, with executives “……being held to account by investors and lawmakers…..”
Meanwhile, back in the real world came a more realistic comment: “This ruling has negligible chance to survive appeals,” said Per Magnus Nysveen, of energy consultancy Rystad Energy. A man who, unlike Ms Joffe, knows what he is talking about!
In any event, the ruling is only applicable in the Netherlands where Royal Dutch Shell has it’s HQ. It is however incorporated in England.
In the previous blog-post I speculated that the new merged group would reincorporate under specific EU corporate law and continue to he head-quartered in the Netherlands. This because the EU Commission would demand such.
It is however possible that the new merged corporate entity would remain incorporated in England and would sever its EU based operations. Currently, the market capitalisation of RDS is £100.841 billion and PB is £62.093 billion.
There is in fact a very strong argument for the merged company to locate itself wholly in England. Currently the largest UK PLC (by market capitalisation) is the conglomerate Unilever at £112.144 billion . Due to it being headquartered in The Hague, RDS is not listed in the list of largest UK PLCs.
The FACT of the matter is that the new merged entity would have a market capitalisation north of £150/£160 billion at the present “in COVID” market. Post COVID one can expect to see that increase significantly.
In terms of influence the merged entity would have more influence in the UK than it would in the EU.
Notwithstanding the FACT that the so called “science” of the anti CO2 brigade is flawed – and that’s putting it mildly – the political FACT is that the UK government is beholden – as is the EU’s government – to these activists.
What this means is that a merger and with it a rationalisation of the operations – now called “synergies” – is not only desirable but essential and therefore inevitable. The positive effects on the corporate balance sheet of these so called “synergies” has been demonstrated in the Lloyds Banking Group under the strong and effective leadership of outgoing CEO António Horta-Osório.
The FACT of the matter is this: Anti CO2 activists such as Ms Bess Joffe has done “Yours Truly” a good turn as her efforts has only made the merger of the two oil giants more and not less likely!
My objective now – which I am becoming increasingly confident that it will be realised – after the COVID-19 pandemic – is to get my money back by selling my holding of RDS “B” shares when they hit £19 per share! This will produce a capital gain of a princely £610 which will more than pay off the dealing costs!
As to the pleasing of such as Ms Joffe, I reckon the new merged company will be able to do this by using it’s financial muscles to rent out huge acreages of farmland in the UK from the landowners and tenant farmers for when the Right Honourable Elizabeth Mary Truss, PC, President of the Board of Trade, Secretary of State for International Trade and Member for South West Norfolk gets through signing Free Trade Deals with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA to import all foodstuffs free of duty and without limit – thus destroying the non niche market, non organic, ecologically sustainable, animal friendly farming industry – there will be of course the urgently needed requirement to replace the income this large number of farmers will have lost!
This income will be provided in four ways:
#1: Allowing houses to be built in former farmland.
#2: Planting trees to government/council order (and being paid for it).
#3: Planting “wild meadows” with non agricultural plants to provide food for non agricultural wild animals, birds and insects to government/council order (and being paid for it).
#4: Allowing companies such as the merged RDS/BP to construct huge numbers of PV solar panels to generate “zero carbon electricity” – during the hours of daylight!
This policy will square several circles.
Firstly, the niche market organic, ecologically sustainable, animal friendly farms will be able to provide the very expensive foodstuffs demanded by such as Ms Joffe and Ms Truss (both of whom can afford it) whilst allowing those less wealthy persons such as struggling single mothers who at times go hungry in order to provide food for their children to obtain imported foodstuffs at affordable world market prices!
Secondly, it will help such as Ms Joffe sleep at night and not lye awake worrying that CO2 will heat planet Earth to boiling point as large numbers of trees are growing.
That I am “on to something” is borne out – I think – by the comments of the Dutch commentator Bram de Haas on the Seeking Alpha website.
GOTO: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4432056-royal-dutch-shell-options-after-court-order-to-reduce-emissions-by-45-percent
Mr de Haas makes the point that RDS’s defence was curiously second rate. Whilst this can be understood in a case where an individual of “ordinary means” looses a legal action due to the inability to hire the best (and most expensive) lawyers, this is hardly the case with RDS! If RDS’s lawyers (very good and very expensive lawyers) held back part of a possible defence it will have been for a reason! I reckon this reason might be a English based merger with BP!