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SOL
SOL
SOL - Sasol - Trading Statement: clarification of financial effect of retaining
the O&S Business
Sasol Limited
(Incorporated in South Africa)
(Registration number: 1979/003231/06)
ISIN Code: ZAE000006896
JSE Code: SOL
NYSE Code: SSL
("Sasol")
TRADING STATEMENT: CLARIFICATION OF FINANCIAL EFFECT OF RETAINING THE SASOL
OLEFINS AND SURFACTANTS ("O&S") BUSINESS
Background
On 1 August 2005, Sasol 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.
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.
25 June 2007
Johannesburg
Issued by sponsor: Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited
Date: 25/06/2007 13:21:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. |
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