Finance

The 76-year-old energy giant in South Africa that made R60 billion in six months

Jonathan Hoyle

 ·27 Jul 2026

South African fuel producer Sasol has seen its value double in the last six months, with global conflicts helping the domestic supplier.

Sasol was founded in 1950 as a state-owned company to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign fuel imports.

It opened its first two plants in Sasolburg and Secunda, producing synthetic fuels from coal mined in the surrounding areas.

Since its founding, the company has grown exponentially into South Africa’s largest fuel producer, supplying roughly 30% of the country.

The company has seen increased demand for its products in recent months due to international conflicts that threatened global fuel supplies.

The war between the United States and Iran has led to the sporadic opening and closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical channel for oil tankers.

Approximately 25% of oil transported by tankers passes through the strait as it moves from the Middle East to the rest of the world.

The closure of the Strait prompted global oil prices to skyrocket, as supply became restricted for many countries.

Sasol benefited from the reduced global supply and saw its share prices increase by roughly 33% within two weeks of the Straits closure.

In the last six months, the company’s shares have nearly doubled from R104.76 on 2 January to R200.20 at closing on 24 July, giving it a market cap of R129 billion.

This was R60 billion higher than its market capitalisation of around R68 billion at the start of the year.

Within this impressive growth, the company’s share price reached a high of R242 per share in May 2025, tracking higher global oil prices.

With oil prices climbing down from near $100 a barrel on Monday (27 July), the group is currently trading lower at R188.38 a share.

This gives it a lower market cap of over R120 billion, but this is still significantly higher than in January.

In addition to the global oil crisis, some of Sasol’s success was attributed to improved efficiency in its refineries.

These improvements have come as South Africa’s power supplier, Eskom, has seen improved energy production in the last year.

Previously, Eskom struggled to meet the country’s energy demands and was forced to implement loadshedding to address the shortfall.

Eskom has not implemented loadshedding in the last year, improving efficiency across the country’s businesses, including Sasol.

Here are the ten companies in the JSE Top 40 with the largest share price growth this year:

MTN and Capitec are continuing to grow

MTN was another company that has seen impressive growth in the last six months, driven by its expansion into fintech services.

The mobile service provider currently has a market cap of over R421 billion, and has seen its share price grow from R169.92 on 2 February to R227.19 on 24 July.

The growth has been driven by increased demand for mobile data services, with the company reporting a 35.4% increase in revenue from this area in the 2026 financial year.

The company also saw revenue growth from its fintech service, Momo, which rose 20% in 2026.

The fintech service gives MTN customers access to easy online payment systems from their phones, a system in high demand across the country.

Capitec is outside the top ten fastest-growing companies, but has performed well in the last year, growing to a market cap of over R535 billion, with shares trading at R4,609.14 on 24 July.

The performance has seen its value grow larger than that of many other banks in South Africa, including Nedbank and Absa.

The bank’s performance has been driven by its focus on online banking, with online transactions increasing in the last six months.

It has also seen a large increase in its client base, with over 15 million online banking clients at the end of the last financial year.

This represented a growth of roughly 19% from the previous year, demonstrating its goal to grow its number of customers.

The bank saw its headline earnings rise by 23% in the last financial year, with the strong growth continuing into the new year.

In the last six months, Capitec’s share price has grown from R4,189.50 on 2 February to R4,609.14 on 24 July.