Update on Market Volatility and Cautionary Announcement
Sasol Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1979/003231/06)
Sasol Ordinary Share codes: JSE: SOL NYSE: SSL
Sasol Ordinary ISIN codes: ZAE000006896 US8038663006
Sasol BEE Ordinary Share code: JSE: SOLBE1
Sasol BEE Ordinary ISIN code: ZAE000151817
(“Sasol” or “Company”)
UPDATE ON MARKET VOLATILITY AND CAUTIONARY ANNOUNCEMENT
The unprecedented set of combined challenges driven by COVID-19 and the significant
decline in the oil price have come at a time when Sasol is in a peak gearing phase as
the Company completes LCCP.
Sasol is confident that its foundation business is capable of positive cash flow from
operations in a low oil price environment. At the prevailing Rand oil price of
approximately R580/bbl, Sasol will be within the current covenant levels at 30 June
2020. In anticipation of a lower-for-longer Rand per barrel oil price, a comprehensive
package of actions is being finalised to deliver this and sustainably strengthen the
balance sheet. It is important to note the current liquidity position:
- Sasol has current cash and available facilities of approximately US$2,5bn; and
- Sasol has no significant debt maturities before May 2021.
Sasol is prioritising the following actions, details of which will be announced to the
market on Tuesday:
- Business optimisation to reduce costs;
- Working capital optimisation;
- Re-scheduling some capital expenditure;
- Expanding the scope of, and accelerating, the asset disposal programme to
realise proceeds in excess of the current US$2 billion target;
- Engaging our lending groups. Thus far, engagements have been constructive;
and
- Assessing alternatives to manage Sasol’s near-term debt covenant constraints,
including a potential equity issue.
Sasol will update the market on the conference call at 15:00 SA on Tuesday, 17 March,
with detail on the comprehensive package of actions.
Shareholders are accordingly advised to exercise caution when dealing in the
Company’s securities until a further announcement is made.
Fleetwood Grobler commented “The disruption in the global oil market, coupled with the
ongoing impact of COVID-19 has significantly changed the outlook in just a few weeks.
It is critical that we keep matters within our control by acting quickly and decisively so
that stakeholders don’t lose sight of the significant underlying value in this business. We
are therefore working towards a package of measures to ensure that the business is
profitable even at low oil prices and that we continue to have a strong balance sheet to
support it.”
Conference call details:
Tuesday, 17 March 2020 Time Dial-in numbers Replay numbers
South Africa 15:00 +27 11 535 3600 +27 10 500 4108
United Kingdom 13:00 +44 (0) 333 300 1418 +44 (0) 203 608 8021
United States (ET) 09:00 +1 508 924 4326 +1 412 317 0088
Other countries +27 11 535 3600 +27 10 500 4108
Passcode: 31413
The transcript will be available from March 20, 2020 at 6:00 PM (SA) on Sasol’s investor
relations website.
For online participation, please register on the following link:
https://www.corpcam.com/Sasol17032020
If you have any questions, please email: investor.relations@sasol.com or contact
Feroza Syed at +27 10 344 9280.
12 March 2020
Johannesburg
Sponsor and Corporate Broker: Merrill Lynch South Africa Proprietary Limited
The Company may file a registration statement or a post-effective amendment to its
registration statement (including a prospectus) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (the “SEC”) for any offering of securities referred to in this communication.
Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and
other documents the Company has filed with the SEC for more complete information
about the Company and this offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting
EDGAR on the SEC Web site at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, the Company will arrange
to send you the prospectus after filing if you request it by calling the Investor Relations
Department at +27 10 344 9280.
Disclaimer - Forward-looking statements
Sasol may, in this document, make certain statements that are not historical facts and
relate to analyses and other information which are based on forecasts of future results
and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. These statements may also relate to
our future prospects, expectations, developments and business strategies. Examples of
such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding
exchange rate fluctuations, expectations regarding future cash flow, Sasol’s ability to
meet its debt covenants, the actions referred to herein intended to strengthen Sasol’s
balance sheet and to maintain profitability at lower oil prices and business performance
outlook. Words such as “believe”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “intend", “seek”, “will”, “plan”,
“could”, “may”, “endeavour”, “target”, “forecast” and “project” and similar expressions
are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive
means of identifying such statements. By their very nature, forward-looking statements
involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there are risks
that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not
be achieved. If one or more of these risks materialise, or should underlying assumptions
prove incorrect, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. You
should understand that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed
in such forward-looking statements. These factors and others are discussed more fully
in our most recent annual report on Form 20-F filed on 28 October 2019 and in other
filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The list of factors
discussed therein is not exhaustive; when relying on forward-looking statements to
make investment decisions, you should carefully consider both these factors and other
uncertainties and events. Forward-looking statements apply only as of the date on
which they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any of
them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Date: 12-03-2020 04:31:00
Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
information disseminated through SENS.