Sasol lifted adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation 17% to R60.7bn for the year to end-June, with headline earnings per share up 9% to R38.31 and turnover 9% higher at R272.1bn. The board again withheld a final dividend.
Net debt excluding leases fell 11% to $3.3bn, about R53bn, still above the $3bn trigger in the group’s dividend policy, which provides for 30% of free cash flow to be distributed once debt is sustainably below that level. The threshold was itself lowered from $4bn at Sasol’s capital markets day in May 2025, and the group has now missed it in three consecutive years. Shareholders last received a final dividend of R10 a share, paid in September 2023.
Sasol’s Secunda Output Hits Five-Year High
The result was weighted to the second half. At the December interim stage basic earnings per share had fallen 95%; for the full year they rose 79% to R18.99. Sales volumes increased 4%, Brent crude gained 7% and refining margins more than doubled, gains partly offset by a rand 7% stronger against the dollar.
| Measure | FY2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | R272.1bn | +9% |
| Adjusted ebitda | R60.7bn | +17% |
| Ebit | R25.7bn | +37% |
| Headline earnings per share | R38.31 | +9% |
| Basic earnings per share | R18.99 | +79% |
| Impairments | R16.8bn | — |
| Net debt (excluding leases) | $3.3bn | –11% |
| Free cash flow | R11.9bn | –5% |
| Capital expenditure | R20.9bn | –18% |
| Final dividend | none declared | — |
Fuels drove the improvement, with earnings before interest and tax more than tripling to R19.9bn from R5.2bn. Secunda production rose 8% to a five-year high, ahead of guidance, after better equipment availability and improved coal quality following commissioning of a destoning plant in December 2025, which also cut purchases from external coal suppliers. Natref output rose 76%, assisted by improved reliability and Sasol’s use of capacity attached to Prax South Africa’s shareholding while Prax is in business rescue. Liquid fuels sales rose 13%.
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The gains were offset elsewhere. Gas ebit fell 60% to R1.2bn on lower volumes, the stronger rand and costs tied to the Mozambique ramp-up, where production fell 7% because of operational constraints, flooding and natural decline at the Pande and Temane fields. Domestic gas sales outside the group dropped 8% after customer closures. South African chemicals swung to an ebit loss of R3.3bn from a R5bn profit, while Chemicals America lifted adjusted ebitda 47%.
Impairments totalled R16.8bn, led by R7.7bn against the Secunda liquid fuels refinery, R3.8bn on the Mozambique gas development and R3.7bn on polyethylene. Sasol attributed the Secunda charge largely to a stronger forecast rand reducing the asset’s expected future value, a writedown taken despite the plant’s improved operating performance.
Sasol also disclosed weaknesses in its financial controls covering risk assessment, revenue recognition and the information used to assess asset values. Management said remediation is under way. The last of those categories bears on a year in which impairments exceeded a quarter of adjusted ebitda.
The write-downs sit alongside a longer question about Secunda. The complex accounts for roughly 12% of South Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions, and research by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air links pollution from the site to about 1,000 deaths a year. University of Cape Town researchers have estimated that an abrupt exit from coal-to-liquids would cut GDP by R9.9bn and put 24,900 jobs at risk while increasing fuel imports. Carbon pricing and the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism narrow the economics further.
Sasol Opens New Destoning Plant
Capital expenditure fell 18% to R20.9bn as gas feedstock and environmental projects completed and no Secunda shutdown fell in the period. Cash fixed costs held at R70bn for a third year. Free cash flow slipped 5% to R11.9bn on working capital, but rose 26% excluding the prior year’s R3.1bn Transnet settlement receipt. Sasol added 330MW of renewable capacity, taking operating capacity past 500MW against more than 1,350MW secured.