JSE-listed Sasol’s shares fell by nearly 16% on Friday morning after the company announced that it had postponed the release of its results for the 2019 financial year to September 19.
It had been due to publish its results on August 19.
Sasol’s board this week received a preliminary report from an independent review that had been commissioned to ascertain the factors that had impacted on the cost and schedule changes for the Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), in Louisiana, in the US.
This follows after the group in May announced a $1-billion to $1.3-billion upward revision in the cost of the project to between $12.6-billion and $12.9-billion.
Sasol on Friday said the report pointed to possible LCCP control weaknesses and that the company would have to identify whether any further remedial actions were required.
Moreover, the company’s auditors were required to consider these assessments in terms of the International Standard on Auditing and the Auditing Standards of the public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
It has, therefore, postponed the publication of its results until the independent review and external audit have been completed.
Sasol stressed that the revised cost guidance for the LCCP of $12.6-billion to $12.9-billion remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, the company also reported on Friday that the final stages of the start-up of the ethane cracker at LCCP had been initiated in July but that a technical challenge relating to a large heat exchanger had been encountered, resulting in start-up being interrupted for several days.
“The startup has now resumed and an update on the achievement of beneficial operation will be provided on or before August 26,” the company said.