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The world this week-- Business
本周国际要闻——商业
Shell announced a big change to its corporate structure, with plans to move its tax residency from the Netherlands to Britain, dump its dual-share structure and remove the legacy “Royal Dutch” from its legal name.
壳牌宣布对其公司结构进行重大调整，计划将其税务居住地从荷兰移至英国，取消双重股权结构，并将“皇家荷兰”从其法定名称中删除。
The oil giant is under pressure to increase returns to investors.
这家石油巨头正面临着增加投资者回报的压力。
Relocating its tax base to Britain gives it more freedom on share buy-backs.
将税基迁至英国能使其在股票回购方面享有更多自由。
Shell is keeping several big divisions, such as global upstream, in the Netherlands.
壳牌在荷兰保留了几个大的部门，比如全球上游部分。
Nevertheless the Dutch government said it was “unpleasantly surprised” by the news.
尽管如此，荷兰政府表示对这一消息感到“不愉快地意外”。
Toshiba laid out formal proposals to split into three publicly listed companies, a move that came soon after General Electric’s similar decision to split.
东芝提出了拆分为三家上市公司的正式提议，此举发生在通用电气做出类似分拆决定之后不久。
The Japanese conglomerate wants to house its nuclear, infrastructure and engineering businesses in one company, create an asset-management firm that will oversee its tech holdings in another, and start a new company for its chips and small devices.
这家日本企业集团希望将其核、基础设施和工程业务放在一家公司；创建一家资产管理公司，负责监管其在另一家公司持有的科技资产；并为其芯片和小型设备创建一家新公司。
Some shareholders want Toshiba to sell itself to a private-equity buyer instead.
而一些股东希望东芝将自己卖给私募股权买家。
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson, another huge conglomerate, said it would spin off its consumer-health division into a separate business, leaving it to focus on pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
与此同时，另一家大型企业集团强生公司表示，将把消费者健康部门剥离为一项独立的业务，使其专注于制药和医疗设备。
Natural-gas prices surged in Europe again, after Germany’s energy regulator temporarily suspended its certification of the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is to transport Russian gas to western Europe.
欧洲天然气价格再次飙升，此前德国能源监管机构暂时暂停了将俄罗斯天然气运往西欧的新北溪2号管道的认证。
More Russian supplies would ease the continent’s energy crunch, but the regulator said that the pipeline’s operator was not in a “legal shape compliant with German law”.
更多来自俄罗斯的供应将缓解欧洲大陆的能源紧缺，但监管机构表示，管道运营商未达到“符合德国法律的合法形式”。
Japan’s economy shrank by 0.8% in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, a blow for Kishida Fumio, the new prime minister, ahead of his announcement of a big stimulus package.
日本第三季经济较前三个月萎缩0.8%，这对新首相岸田文雄来说是一个打击，他还没有宣布一项大规模的经济刺激计划。
Business investment plunged in the quarter, as global supply-chain problems hit the country’s exporters.
由于全球供应链问题打击了该国的出口商，商业投资在本季度大幅下降。
Consumer spending also fell amid a resurgence of COVID-19.
随着新冠疫情再次出现，消费者支出也有所下降。
Britain’s annual inflation rate jumped to 4.2% in October, the highest level in a decade and up from 3.1% in September.
英国10月份的年通货膨胀率从9月份的3.1%跃升至4.2%，为10年来的最高水平。
This was mostly because of higher energy costs and supply-chain shortages, but a tightening labour market has added to inflationary pressures.
这主要是由于能源成本上升和供应链短缺，但日益紧缩的劳动力市场增加了通胀压力。
The number of people in employment rose sharply in October, allaying fears that many of the 1m still on the government’s furlough scheme, which ended in September, would lose their jobs.
10月份就业人数大幅上升，缓解了人们的担忧，即仍在接受政府休假计划的100万人中，许多人将失去工作。该休假于9月份结束。
Record job-vacancy rates persist, which often leads to higher wages to attract staff.
创纪录的职位空缺率持续存在，这通常会导致需要用更高的工资来吸引员工。
Joe Biden accused oil and gas companies of “anti-consumer behaviour”, alleging they were ramping up petrol prices for profit, and asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
乔·拜登指责石油和天然气公司的“反消费者行为”，声称他们为了盈利而提高汽油价格，并要求联邦贸易委员会进行调查。
The president is under political pressure as a result of surging prices at petrol pumps.
由于汽油价格飙升，总统正面临政治压力。
Walmart reported a bumper quarter for sales, and said its shelves would be fully stocked for the Christmas shopping season.
沃尔玛公布了一个喜人的季度销售额，并表示将填满货架为圣诞购物季做好准备。
The retailer has found that shoppers are gradually returning to pre-pandemic habits, with more of them visiting physical stores than a year ago.
这家零售商发现，购物者正在逐渐恢复疫情前的习惯，与一年前相比，去实体店购物的人更多了。
Target issued a similar earnings report.
塔吉特也发布了类似的收益报告。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
