Sasol dividends are back

Good Morning Voornaam,

Energy group Sasol was the talk of the town yesterday after releasing results shortly after 7am. Many a shareholder opened the announcement and hit CTRL-F "dividend" to see what the number would be. With a dividend of R14.70 per share, it's slightly less than some were expecting but still a return to paying proper dividends for a company that many had written off in 2020. If you want to learn more about the results, there's an article provided by Sasol on their performance.

To save you the irritation of looking up the share price, the yield for Sasol ordinary shareholders is 4.3% and for SOLBE1 shareholders is 8.2%. The B-BBEE shares are identical to the ordinary sh ares and trade at a steep discount because of the lower liquidity that comes with restricted ownership. This works well for the B-BBEE shareholders when dividends are on the table!

Merafe had a far less enjoyable day, with a share price drop of nearly 11%. CEO Zanele Matlala sounds like she needs a warm cup of rooibos and possibly even a hug, as the outlook for the company is far less rosy than the latest results suggest. With exposure to declining ferrochrome prices and the impact on margin of higher costs due to inflation, the excellent results were soured by the expectations for the second half of the year. I don't think I've ever seen such a bearish CEO narrative alongside strong numbers.

For these stories and more (like results from Bidvest, Cashbuild, Aveng and NEPI Rockcastle), be sure to read Ghost Bites this morning. There's also an important update from PSG on its restructuring transaction.

TreasuryONE webinar tomorrow

Don't miss out! The webinar tomorrow morning at 9am is a wonderful learning opportunity and is free to attend. The team from TreasuryONE will be covering inflation and the threat of recession. There's plenty of time at the end for your questions. REGISTER HERE>>>

The dollar touched 0.99 against the euro yesterday, driven by concerns over Europe and China as well as optimism reg arding hikes by the Fed ahead of this week's Jackson Hole Symposium. The momentum was broken by a weak Services PMI print and lower New Home Sales figures in the US, which cooled down the expectations of a hawkish tone by Fed Chair Jerome Powell later this week. The rand traded above R17.10 before the print and made it back down to R16.92 thereafter, before stabilising closer to R17.00.

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Have a great Wednesday!