JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, July 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sasol has been selected as one of Mergent's International Dividend Achievers for 2006, ranking it among an elite class of non-US companies that have successfully delivered dividend increases to shareholders for five or more consecutive years.
"It is a great honour to be recognised as a Dividend Achiever by Mergent, and even more so when one considers that a mere 12% of international common stocks and American Depositary Receipts traded on major US exchanges met the stringent requirements to be an International Dividend Achiever this year," said Sasol deputy CE Trevor Munday.
"The Dividend Achievers are strong, dividend-paying companies with the potential to outperform broad-based indices over the long term. In fact, over the past ten years, Mergent's International Dividend Achievers Index has outperformed the International Benchmark Index by an annualised rate of 4% per year," said Shirley Petersen, Vice President, Index Services for Mergent.
Munday said it was Sasol's intention to distribute dividends on an annual basis covered approximately three times by earnings. "It is our objective to maintain a dividend cover of between 2,5 and 3,5 times. In determining the dividend to be declared we always consider the potential re-investment opportunities."
Notes: Mergent has compiled its annual Dividend Achievers roster since 1979. The 2006 Dividend Achievers list is available at http://www.dividendachievers.com/. Mergent's quarterly Dividend Achievers Handbook provides corporate information and financial data on all of the Dividend Achievers companies, as well as supplementary rankings.
Mergent, Inc., a Xinhua Finance company (TSE Mothers: 9399; OTC ADRs: XHFNY) is the preferred provider of business and financial data on global publicly listed companies. Currently headquartered in Charlotte, NC and New York City, with sales offices in key North American cities, Mergent also has a strong global presence, with offices in London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney.
The Sasol Investor Relations team
Tel: +27 11 441 3113/3563/3321
