JSE-listed petrochemicals firm, Sasol, on Monday said profits for the year ended June this year were pleasing and solid, boosted by the weakening of the rand against a basket of currencies.

Sasol said headline earnings a share is likely soar by between 11 percent and 17 percent during the period under review.
South African companies use headline earnings as a measure of profitability.

Sasol Synfuels posted a robust performance, with production volumes increasing by 2 percent to 7.6 million tons for the year.

“Following decisive management actions introduced last year to ensure cost discipline and focused cost reductions, our business performance enhancement programme is progressing well with our normalised cash fixed cost trend slightly below market inflation and ahead of our previous guidance,” Sasol said.

Sasol’s solid financial performance was further supported by a 17 percent weakening of the average rand/US dollar exchange rate.
It was also boosted by a slight improvement in chemical prices, while the average Brent crude oil price remained relatively flat for the period under review.

“Our share price increased by 47 percent over the financial year to a closing price on 30 June 2014 of R632.36 ($59.25). This resulted in a substantial year-on-year increase in the long-term employee share-based payment expense of R3.6 billion ($337.2 million).”