Daily Telegraph (UK): Shell will reward its investors: “Shell's shareholders will be rewarded with a dividend bonanza next year if they vote through the Anglo-Dutch company's restructuring plans in the spring.” (ShellNews.net) 13 Nov 04 

By Christopher Hope (Filed: 13/11/2004)

Shell's shareholders will be rewarded with a dividend bonanza next year if they vote through the Anglo-Dutch company's restructuring plans in the spring. 

The oil and gas giant yesterday confirmed that it will pay out five quarters-worth of dividends in a nine-month period between March and December if everything goes to plan.

The bumper pay-out is a result of a quirk caused by Shell's decision to start to pay dividends on a quarterly, rather than half-yearly, basis.

This means that Shell's last half-yearly payment - covering the third and fourth quarters in 2004 - should be paid in March. That will be followed by three separate quarterly payments for the first three quarters of 2005, paid in June, September and December.

The good fortune finishes at the end of 2005, however, when Shell reverts to separate payments for the four quarters in 2005 and following years.

The news could mean that Shell's shares are targeted by high yield funds once they have cottoned on to the possibility of the higher pay-out.

Richard Slape, an oil and gas analyst at Seymour Pierce, said: "In theory you could hold the shares for nine months and get quite a nice yield."

Shell's shares closed up .5 at 443p.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2004/11/13/cnshel13.xml