LONDON—The chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell PLC defended the energy giant’s business model on Thursday, a day after activist investor Third Point LLC called for the breakup of the company to improve its environmental and financial performances.
Ben van Beurden said that the needs of Shell’s customers, and the company’s efforts to pivot away from fossil fuels, were better served by keeping its range of assets and businesses. In particular, he said the company’s legacy oil-and-gas assets were needed to fund its investments in lower-carbon energy.
