{"id":851791,"date":"2026-02-23T08:31:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=851791"},"modified":"2026-02-23T08:31:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:31:47","slug":"sasol-sees-massive-95-drop-in-earnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/851791\/sasol-sees-massive-95-drop-in-earnings\/","title":{"rendered":"Sasol sees massive 95% drop in earnings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sasol has seen its earnings drop by 95% amid rising impairments, and the group did not declare an interim dividend for the six months ended 31 December 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We are showing consistent progress in the implementation of our strategic initiatives as set out in our Capital Markets Day plan,&#8221; said CEO Simon Baloyi. <br><br>&#8220;This is strengthening our foundation business, helping us to mitigate ongoing global market volatility and macroeconomic headwinds, building resilience for the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turnover of R112.4 billion remained flat compared to the prior period, which was supported by a 3% increase in sales volumes, despite the softer macro environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of R4.6 billion were 52% lower than the prior period of R9.5 billion. The group said that non-cash remeasurement items of R79 billion impacted EBITn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This relates mainly to impairments of R7.8 billion (before tax), compared to R5.7 billion in the prior period, and includes the impairment of the Secunda liquid fuels refinery cash-generating unit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also includes the impairment of the group&#8217;s Mozambican Production Sharing Agreement gas development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the result, <strong>basic earnings per share decreased by 95% to R0.38 per share<\/strong>, and HEPS decreased by 34% to R9.27 per share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notably, earnings attributable to shareholders of Sasol Limited stood at R241 million (R0.38 per share). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, earnings attributable to non-controlling interests in subsidiaries stood at a far higher R614 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cash generated by the operating activities of R11.6 billion declined by 34%, mainly due to lower earnings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Capital expenditure of R8.5 billion was 43% lower than the prior period. In a positive for the group, free cash flow increased by over 100% to R800 million, supported by the lower capital expenditure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The group generated positive free cash flow in the first half of the financial year for the first time in four years, despite the challenging macro environment,&#8221; said Baloyi. <br><br>&#8220;This was supported by the higher sales volumes, lower cash fixed costs and lower capital expenditure. Importantly, this has been achieved without compromising asset integrity and safety.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company&#8217;s dividend policy is based on 30% of free cash flow, provided that net debt is below $3 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With net debt currently at $3.8 billion, exceeding the debt trigger, the group&#8217;s board declared no interim dividend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><div class=\"table-responsive\"><table class=\"table\" class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Financials<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Half year 31 Dec 2025<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Half year 31 Dec 2024<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Change %<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Turnover (Rm)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">122 387<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">122 102<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Adjusted EBITDA (Rm)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">21 006<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">23 949<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">(12%)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>EBIT (R)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">4 619<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">9 533<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">(52%)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Basic earnings per share (R)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">0,38<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">7,22<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">(95%)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Headline earnings per share (R)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">9,27<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">14,13<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">(34%)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Capital expenditure (Rm)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">8 495<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">15 007<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">(43%)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Free cash flow (Rm)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">794<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">(1 296)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">>100%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Net debt (excluding leases) (Rm)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">63 269<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">64 964<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">3%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sasol has seen its earnings take a nosedive despite the group declaring its first positive free cash flow in four years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":794008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[2240],"class_list":["post-851791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-sasol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851791"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851801,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851791\/revisions\/851801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}