sasolInterim earnings to fall by up to 20%

Sasol’s profit for the six months to December last year would be affected by a write-down in the value of its Iranian unit, it said on Friday. Earnings a share would probably fall by 10 percent to 20 percent compared with a year earlier after the company cut the value of its 50 percent stake in Arya Sasol Polymers by R1.97 billion. “We continue to actively engage with interested parties to divest from our share in Arya Sasol Polymers,” it said. Sasol co-owns Arya with Pars Petrochemical of Iran, a unit of National Petrochemical. Arya contributes about 3 percent to Sasol’s operating profit. The US and EU are pressuring Iran to curtail its nuclear programme. Shares in Sasol rose 2.08 percent to close at R397.41 on Friday. – Bloomberg