Sasol, the top-performing stock on the JSE’s top 40 to date in 2018, is expected to benefit from a weaker rand, higher oil prices and the commissioning of its Lake Charles chemical plant in Louisiana in the US. Sasol warned on Friday that headline earnings per share were expected to decrease by 16% to 26% in the year to end June, with its performance negatively affected by "several unplanned Eskom supply interruptions" and two internal outages at its Secunda Synfuels Operations, resulting in lower production volumes. The group, led by CEO Bongani Nqwababa, also wrote down the book value of some of its assets by about R16bn, largely driven by the effect of a stronger rand during the year, as well as lower production volumes in Mozambique. It recorded a R3bn non-cash charge on its Khanyisa empowerment deal. Despite the write-downs, Sasol’s share price rose on Friday to outperform other big resource stocks on the JSE, bringing its year-to-date gain to nearly 18%.
The rise in the ...
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