Johannesburg - Sasol, the world’s biggest coal- to-fuel producer, said full-year profit rose as much as 30 percent, boosted by higher-than-anticipated output volumes in its synthetic fuels unit.
So-called headline earnings per share, which exclude one-time items, rose 20 percent to 30 percent in the 12 months through June, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement today. Earnings per share probably increased 7 percent to 17 percent, it said. The median estimate of 15 analysts is for headline profit of 47.10 rand a share, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Sasol Synfuels’ production volumes rose 4 percent to and the rand’s 14 percent decline against the dollar this year boosted earnings, it said.
The company further wrote down the value of Arya Sasol Polymer Co. in Iran, which it co-owns with Pars Petrochemical Co., by 1.6 billion rand ($161 million) after tax, “reducing the carrying value of the investment over the financial year by 3.6 billion rand to 2.3 billion rand,” the company said. - Bloomberg News
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