(Reuters) -South African petrochemical firm Sasol said on Monday it swung to an annual profit on the back of higher chemicals prices, tighter cost controls and lower asset writedowns.
The company, which produces fuel and chemicals from coal and gas, posted basic earnings per share of 10.60 rand ($0.6070) for the year ended June 30, compared to a 69.94 rand loss per share last year.
Sasol also benefited from a 4.3 billion rand payout from Transnet, after it claimed in a legal suit the state-owned logistics firm had overcharged for oil transportation over several years.
The company said its turnover fell 9%, mainly due to lower sales volumes and reductions in rand oil prices and refining margins.
However, it managed to keep cash fixed cost increases below inflation, while capital expenditure of 25.4 billion rand was 16% lower than the previous year.
Sasol also recorded significantly lower impairments of 20.7 billion rand, compared with 74.9 billion rand in the previous year.
Asset writedowns in the 2025 financial year were related to its Secunda and Sasolburg liquid fuels refinery operations, Mozambique gas production sharing agreement and exploration project, and Italian chemicals business.
The bulk of Sasol’s impairments the previous year was related to its U.S chemicals operations, hit by low prices and weak demand.
Sasol once again skipped dividend payments as its $3.7 billion net debt remained above the $3 billion debt cap in terms of its dividend policy.
($1 = 17.4620 rand)
(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Subhranshu Sahu)
