Clarification of Financial Effect of Retaining the Sasol Olefins and Surfactants ('O&S') Business
25 Juni 2007 - 4:31PM
PR Newswire (US)
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, June 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Background On 1 August 2005, Sasol (JSE:SOLJSE:NYSE:JSE:SSL)
announced its intent to divest of the O&S business, subject to
fair value being obtained. In an announcement of 5 September 2006
it was indicated that the O&S business will be written down to
fair value. On 30 March 2007 Sasol announced that it had terminated
the planned divestiture process and would retain the O&S
business. The announcement indicated that the O&S business will
cease to be classified as being "held- for-sale" for accounting
purposes and will be shown as part of "continuing operations." As a
consequence, the results of O&S have been reincorporated into
continuing operations and will no longer be disclosed as a separate
line item, viz discontinued operations, in the income statement. In
Sasol's interim financial results for the six months ended 31
December 2006, published on 5 March 2007, the following earnings
outlook was indicated: "Assuming slightly lower oil and commodity
chemical prices and a marginally stronger rand relative to the
first six months, earnings in the second half are expected to be
lower than those of the first half. Satisfactory earnings growth
for the full financial year is, however, expected." Financial
effects resulting from the change in classification of Sasol
O&S At the time of the release of the interim financial
results, Sasol O&S was still categorized as an asset "held for
sale" and its results reported as a discontinued operation in the
financial results. The earnings growth outlook released accordingly
referred to the attributable earnings outlook on "continuing
operations" only. The "satisfactory earnings growth" remains the
profit outlook for the full financial year if 2006 attributable
earnings on continuing operations are compared to 2007 attributable
earnings excluding Sasol O&S. However, mainly due to the Sasol
O&S fair value write down of R2, 8 billion after tax in the
2006 financial year which is not repeated in the 2007 financial
year, attributable earnings per share in the 2007 financial year
are expected to be between 55% and 65% higher than those achieved
in the previous financial year. Headline earnings per share (which
in 2006 excluded the effect of the fair value write-down) are
expected to increase by between 5% and 10%. Sasol will be reporting
its financial results for the year ending 30 June 2007 on 10
September 2007. The above information has not been reviewed and
reported on by the Company's auditors. Contact: Sasol Investor
Relations: Tel.: +27 11 441 3113 / 3563 / 3321 Forward-looking
statements: In this announcement we make certain statements that
are not historical facts and relate to analyses and other
information based on forecasts of future results not yet
determinable, relating, amongst other things, to exchange rate
fluctuations, volume growth, increases in market share, total
shareholder return and cost reductions. These are forward-looking
statements as defined in the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe",
"anticipate", "intend", "seek", "will", "plan", "could", "may",
"endeavour" and "project" and similar expressions are intended to
identify such forward- looking statements, but are not the
exclusive means of identifying such statements. Forward-looking
statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and, if one or
more of these risks materialise, or should underlying assumptions
prove incorrect, actual results may be very different from those
anticipated. The factors that could cause our actual results to
differ materially from such forward-looking statements are
discussed more fully in our most recent annual report under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on Form 20-F filed on 2 November
2006 and in other filings with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements apply only as of
the date on which they are made, and Sasol does not undertake any
obligation to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise. DATASOURCE: Sasol
Limited CONTACT: Sasol Investor Relations: +27-11-441-3113 - 3563 -
3321, or
Copyright