Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LSE:RDSB) shareholders have approved a plan to simplify the oil giant's dual share structure and move its headquarters to London from The Hague in the Netherlands.
Excluding a huge 57.95% of the votes that were withheld, shareholders representing 99.77% of the company's shares voted in favour of adopting the company's plans, with 0.23% of votes against.
The plan will see the company lose the “Royal Dutch” part of its name to become “Shell PLC”.
When it announced the plan in November, Shell said a simplified single stock line would allow for accelerated shareholder distributions, for example share buybacks will be easier, as there will be a larger single pool of shares to buy-back.
“The simplification will normalise our share structure under the tax and legal jurisdictions of a single country and make us more competitive,” said Shell chair Sir Andrew Mackenzie.
The plan requires approval by 75% of shareholder votes cast at a meeting in Rotterdam.
If approved, the company's boards will meet later to make a final decision, with the move planned sometime in early 2022.
Critics believe Shell's decision was motivated in part by a Dutch court ruling in May that ordered it to cut carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, Reuters reported.
Shell, which is appealing the ruling, said its environmental policy will not be affected by the move.