- No loss of life since October 2021
- ~550MW renewable energy power purchase agreements conclude in South Africa
- R18 billion spend with black-owned suppliers
- Invested R780 million in socio-economic and skills development
- Venture Capital Fund launched supporting low carbon strategy
- Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of R24,2 billion
- Core headline earnings per share up 9% to R24,55
According to the company’s website news release on February 21, 2023, Sasol (JSE: SOL; NYSE: SSL) delivered a mixed set of results for the first six months of 2023, supported by oil and refining tailwinds offset by lower volumes and higher feedstock costs. The impact from the global weaker economic growth, disrupted supply chains, depressed chemical prices and the resultant higher input costs impacted the Chemicals business negatively. Performance of our South African value chain was muted given the scheduled total East factory shutdown at Secunda and operational variability experienced, mainly due to lower productivity and coal quality in our Mining operations, contributing to lower volumes for the six months. The safety of our people and stability of our operations is a key priority. We continue to focus our efforts on improving business performance to maximise profitability for the full year.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of R24,2 billion remained in line with the prior period, mainly due to a strong pricing environment which was offset by lower volumes and increasing input cost pressures, with declining demand for chemicals globally. Earnings benefitted from gains of R5,1 billion on the valuation of financial instruments and derivative contracts offset by remeasurement items of R6,4 billion.
Remeasurement items include impairments of our Secunda liquid fuels refinery cash generating unit (CGU) (R8,1 billion), South African Wax CGU (R0,9 billion) and China Essential Care Chemicals CGU (R0,9 billion) and a reversal of impairment of our Tetramerization CGU (R3,6 billion) in the United States of America, as well as a profit on partial disposal of an interest in the Area A5-A offshore exploration license in Mozambique (R266 million) and the realisation of foreign currency translation reserves following the liquidation of subsidiaries (R251 million).
- Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by adjusting EBIT for depreciation, amortisation, share-based payments, remeasurement items, change in discount rates of environmental provisions, all unrealised translation gains and losses, and all unrealised gains and losses on our derivatives and hedging activities. We believe adjusted EBITDA is a useful measure of the Group’s underlying cash flow performance. However, this is not a defined term under IFRS and may not be comparable with similarly titled measures reported by other companies. (Adjusted EBITDA constitutes pro forma financial information in terms of the JSE Limited Listings Requirements and should be read in conjunction with the basis of preparation and pro forma financial information as set out in the reviewed interim financial results.)
- Core headline earnings per share is calculated by adjusting headline earnings per share with non-recurring items, earnings losses of significant capital projects (exceeding R4 billion) which have reached beneficial operation and are still ramping up, all translation gains and losses (realised and unrealised), all gains and losses on our derivatives and hedging activities (realised and unrealised), and share-based payments on implementation of B-BBEE transactions. Adjustments in relation to the valuation of our derivatives at period end are to remove volatility from earnings as these instruments are valued using forward curves and other market factors at the reporting date and could vary from period to period. We believe core headline earnings is a useful measure of the Group´s sustainable operating performance. (Core HEPS constitutes pro forma financial information in terms of the JSE Limited Listings Requirements and should be read in conjunction with the basis of preparation and pro forma financial information as set out in the reviewed interim financial results.)
Dividend
The Sasol Limited board of directors (Board) declared an interim gross cash dividend of South African 700 cents per share (31 December 2021 – nil cents per ordinary share) for the six months ended 31 December 2022. The cash dividend is payable on the ordinary shares and the Sasol BEE ordinary shares. The Board is satisfied that the Company is liquid and solvent, and that capital remaining after payment of the interim dividend, is sufficient to support the current operations for the coming year. The interim dividend has been declared out of retained earnings (income reserves). The South African dividend withholding tax rate is 20%. At the declaration date, there are 634 336 265 ordinary and 6 331 347 Sasol BEE ordinary shares in issue. The net interim dividend amount payable to shareholders who are not exempt from the dividend withholding tax, is 560 cents per share, while the dividend amount payable to shareholders who are exempt from dividend withholding tax is 700 cents per share.
The full announcement and the reviewed interim financial results will be available on the Company's website at: https://www.sasol.com/investor-centre/financial-results
Sasol’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Fleetwood Grobler, and Chief Financial Officer, Hanré Rossouw, will present the results at 09h00 (SA time) on 21 February 2023, followed by a market call to address questions.
Please connect to the call via the webcast link:
https://78449.themediaframe.com/links/sasol230221.html
or via teleconference call link:
