S Africa's Sasol June-Dec ’12 net profit falls on one-off charges

11 March 2013 08:49  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--South Africa’s Sasol said on Monday that its net profit fell by 11.7% year on year to rand (R) 12.6bn ($1.34bn) for the second half of 2012, because its operating profit was hit by one-off charges.

The petrochemical group’s turnover for the six months ended December 2012 was up by 2.5% year on year at R85.4bn. However, operating profit fell by 7.53% to R18.9bn, Sasol said in a statement.

The firm’s operating profit was negatively impacted by one-off charges totalling R3.6bn, it said. The charges included the “partial impairments” of its Arya Sasol Polymer Co investment and the solvents Germany business as well as the write-off of an unsuccessful exploration well in Mozambique among others.

Excluding the impact of these charges, operating profit rose by 9% year on year on the back of a “solid operational performance”, Sasol said.

“We remain on track to deliver on our expectations for improved operational performance,” the company said.

“The rand/US dollar exchange rate remains one of the biggest external factors impacting our profitability,”  it added.

($1 = R9.08)

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