South African oil and chemicals group Sasol (SOL) is putting on hold major acquisitions in the half-year to June 2003 as the company is in a consolidation phase, Sasol chief executive Pieter Cox said in an interview with I-Net Bridge on Monday.
Cox confirmed that Sasol’s full-year dividend per share for the 2003 financial year would be 450 cents, made up of an interim dividend of 215 cents and a final dividend of 235 cents.
Sasol also expects its headline earnings to be below 1 544 cents a share in the year to June 2003, largely due to the strong rand versus the US dollar, Cox confirmed.
Sasol is made up of four major divisions: mining, synfuels, chemical industries as well as oil and gas. “The mining division’s earnings for the second half of the year is likely to be slightly lower due to the rand. Earnings at the synfuels division are likely to be lower due to the strong rand. The chemical division’s earnings are set to be higher, while the oil and gas division’s earnings are likely to be substantially higher due to the Natref refinery coming on line following the expansion shutdown in the six months to December 2002,” Cox said.
Cox said the key impact on Sasol’s earnings for the full 2003-year would be the rand’s performance. On the pending war between the US and Iraq, Cox said its operations in the Middle East were geographically removed from Iraq and he didn’t expect any material fallout for Sasol from a possible war.
Sasol has oil and chemical operations in Qatar and Dubai. “The exact fallout from any Iraqi war will become clear in the next few weeks and months. Our concern regarding any war in Iraq will be the global harm it causes,” Cox said.
Regarding Sasol’s possible business involvement in Iraq, following any war, Cox said the country wasn’t on the group’s radar screen. However, he added that Sasol was always interested in developing new sources of oil and chemical feedstock and may be keen to get involved in Iraq in the future.
Following Sasol’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange on April 19, Cox expects that Sasol’s foreign shareholding, currently at 25%, would increase. – I-Net Bridge