{"id":113914,"date":"2016-02-24T08:36:21","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T06:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=113914"},"modified":"2016-02-24T08:36:21","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T06:36:21","slug":"cell-c-linked-blue-label-telecoms-lifts-interim-revenue-to-r12-9-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/113914\/cell-c-linked-blue-label-telecoms-lifts-interim-revenue-to-r12-9-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Cell C-linked Blue label Telecoms lifts interim revenue to R12.9 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms, which is in the process of <span class=\"st\">acquiring a 35% interest in Cell C,\u00a0 <\/span>on Tuesday reported a 25% increase in revenue to R12.9 billion for the half year ended November 2015.<\/p>\n<p>The group said that despite a challenging economic environment, it delivered an encouraging performance, resulting in growth in headline earnings per share of 25% to 53.26 cents.<\/p>\n<p>Operating profit was up to R573 million, from R469.5 million before.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Label said its performance was underpinned by an expanding distribution channel and in turn a growth in market share.<\/p>\n<p>The group is a distributor of <span class=\"st\">secure electronic tokens<\/span>, and airtime vouchers for the country&#8217;s mobile operators.<\/p>\n<p>In December Blue Label put in an offer to purchase 35% of Cell C for R4 billion, as part of the recapitalisation of South Africa\u2019s third largest mobile network.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Highlights<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increase in gross profit of 17% to R919 million<\/li>\n<li>Increase in EBITDA of 20% to R620 million<\/li>\n<li>Increase in headline earnings per share of 25% to 53.26 cents<\/li>\n<li>Increase in headline earnings of 25% to R355 million<\/li>\n<li>Increase in cash and cash equivalents by R694 million to R1.5 billion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On the international front, Blue Label said that its share of losses in Blue Label Mexico (BLM) declined by 28%, albeit equating to a share of losses of R32.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>This impacted negatively on headline earnings per share by 4.88 cents.<\/p>\n<p>It said that Oxigen Services India has remained profitable from year-end, focusing on expanding a valuable mobile wallet subscriber base.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, Blue Label said that Oxigen Services India will continue to focus on enhancing its mobile wallet subscriber base.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is the intention of the company to perpetuate its marketing of the benefits of prepaid wallets to the vast unbanked population of India,&#8221; Blue Label said.<\/p>\n<p>The decline in losses incurred by Blue Label Mexico is expected to continue in line with its roll-out of prepaid starter packs, which is gaining momentum on a monthly basis, the company said.<\/p>\n<p>In South Africa, Blue Label said that it distribution has enhanced its bouquet of products to include mobile handsets and tablets.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Low cost smart phones are expected to reach a wider spectrum of consumers which in turn will enhance the sale of prepaid tokens of value,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">More on Blue Label<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/107933\/cell-c-board-gives-the-nod-for-r4-billion-blue-label-deal\/\">Cell C board gives the nod for R4 billion Blue Label deal<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/96167\/massive-growth-for-cell-c-blue-label\/\">Massive growth for Cell C: Blue Label<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/96121\/blue-label-telecoms-hikes-dividend-15\/\">Blue Label Telecoms hikes dividend 15%<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blue Label Telecoms has reported a 25% increase in revenue to R12.9 billion for the half year ended November 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":106809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[6064,42,26],"class_list":["post-113914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-blue-label","tag-cell-c","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113914"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113940,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113914\/revisions\/113940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}