Sasol counting the beans before pumping gas
Focus on balance sheet rather than grand projects
A subtle coup has taken place in a space-age building on the edge of Sandton City: Sasol seems to have been taken over by accountants. This week the group announced its new strategy for the next decade to 2030 and it heavily favours a strong balance sheet rather than grand projects such as its Lake Charles chemicals project in the US. Joint-CEOs Bongani Nqwababa and Stephen Cornell emphasised in an interview with Business Times that Sasol now had to balance the need to pay down debt with the need to increase dividend return to shareholders, as capital expenditure takes a back seat until 2022. They said the focus would be on a consistent dividend of 40% of its earnings over the next five years and 45% from 2022. Nqwababa said the priority to deleverage the business and return value to shareholders did not mean they would be folding their arms. They would be pushing for continuous improvement in the group's business, primarily through digitisation, which was expected to raise Sasol's ...
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