Shareholders in the oil company Shell have fiercely criticised its executive chairman, Phil Watts.

(I'm) more than willing to learn from the feedback

Phil Watts Shell chairman

Some leading investors have said that Mr Watts is one of the poorest communicators running a FTSE 100 company.

Shell defended its chairman, saying he undertook a demanding programme of engagements with investors and analysts.

But the company admitted that it had had some communication difficulties over the past year.

'Things could get worse'

It is unusual for leading shareholders to make public their concerns about senior executives.

Phil Watts says he will learn from feedback

But several UK shareholders said that their relations with the Anglo-Dutch energy group had hit a low, mainly because of Mr Watts' style.

And they warned that things would get worse unless he improved his communication skills.

Mr Watts became executive chairman of Shell just over a year ago.

Since then the company's share price has fallen and Shell has lagged behind its rivals.

'Nothing has changed'

Steve Thornber, head of the global oil team at Threadneedle Investments, said: "I would like to be generous to him as he is relatively new in the job.

Shell will often surprise with their announcements

Mike Felton

"But our meetings with him have been poor and unsatisfactory - among the poorest we have had with a FTSE 100 company management."

He said he was taking the unusual step of criticising Mr Watts publicly because of growing frustration.

He said that he had already spoken to Mr Watts and the company about the problem but nothing had changed.

'Willing to learn'

Mike Felton, director of UK equities at Friends Ivory & Sime said that part of the problem for Shell was that its big rival, BP, was so good at communicating.

"The issue this creates is that often Shell will surprise with their announcements," he said.

"With their results they will come out with a set of figures that are either way ahead or way behind expectations," he added.

Big investors do not like those sorts of surprises.

But Mr Felton said it was purely a problem with investor relations and was in no sense an indictment of Shell's business.

Mr Watts said he was "perplexed" by the criticism but was "more than willing to learn from the feedback".

He said that if that was the feeling in the market then he and the company would redouble their effort to get their message across to shareholders.