At its 2025 Capital Markets Day, a somewhat beleaguered Sasol unveiled a cautious but significant overhaul spanning a revised dividend policy, major emissions roadmap changes and a wide-reaching operational reset - arguably a necessity after a decade marked by cost overruns, ESG pressures and volatile returns.

At its 2025 Capital Markets Day, a somewhat beleaguered Sasol unveiled a cautious but significant overhaul spanning a revised dividend policy, major emissions roadmap changes and a wide-reaching operational reset - arguably a necessity after a decade marked by cost overruns, ESG pressures and volatile returns.

Sasol CEO Simon Baloyi opened his address with a direct acknowledgement of past challenges, stating: "Our recent performance over the last four years has not lived up to our own expectations," aiming to clearly state that the transformation of Sasol is a long-term process; "running a marathon, not a sprint".

The company, now 75 years old, has evolved from its origins as an apartheid-era coal-to-liquids organisation into a major player in the global chemicals market post-2000s. However, it has suffered severe setbacks in recent years; the Lake Charles Chemical Project cost overruns nearly bankrupted the group in 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic saw share prices collapse to below R30, down from highs above R600 in 2014.

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A Flourish chartIn the wake of board-level fallout from the Lake Charles debacle, Sasol's leadership credibility has remained under close investor scrutiny. Today's Capital Markets Day saw a strong rise in the share price, with just over...