Sasol said in a trading update two weeks ago that it expected its core headline earnings per share for the six months to the end of December to rise between 2% and 12%, which was well short of Bloomberg’s consensus expectations of a 39% increase.
“The impact from the global weaker economic growth, disrupted supply chains, depressed chemical prices and the resultant higher input costs impacted the chemicals business negatively.” Sasol is not in that league, but its fuels business did see earnings surge 92% for the period. But Putin’s war, and the uncertainties and inflation it triggered, also torpedoed much of the global economy, including Sasol’s chemicals business.
To that end, the company announced the launch of Sasol Ventures. It said this was “to advance Sasol’s decarbonisation and 2050 net zero ambitions through venture capital. It’s not huge by global standards, but much of it will be presumably invested in South Africa’s economy, which needs every drop of investment that falls its way. And venture capital – private equity financing for risky projects – is a rare species in South Africa.According to the Southern African Venture Capital Association, early-stage fund managers invested R1.31-billion into 121 entities in South Africa in 2021.