Sasol hit by rand rise and labour issues
Strong performances reported at most business units in half-year to December, oil and chemicals giant says
Rand strengthening, labour disruption in its mining division and distortions from prior-year comparisons will partly offset a fundamentally strong performance from most oil and chemicals giant Sasol’s business units in the six months to December. Sasol has global synthetic fuel and chemicals operations. It is also SA’s only producer of liquid fuels, extracted from coal. It said on Thursday that its interim headline earnings a share would fall 34%-44% against the same period in 2016, while basic earnings a share would rise 12%-22%. Sasol’s shares fell 3.7% to R406.56 after the news, while Brent crude oil was trading 0.94% firmer at $55.82 a barrel and the rand was 0.9% weaker at R13.35 a dollar. Brent crude, which touched a recent low point of $29.25 a barrel a year ago, has since almost doubled after an agreement among the world’s major producers late in 2016 to cut back production and a gradual improvement in global demand. Sasol said the rand/dollar exchange rate at the end of Dec...
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