JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms says it is no longer pursuing the prospect of acquiring a banking license, an idea mooted in late 2010 following a partnership with uBank.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday (21 August) the group reported a modest rise in revenue to to R18.72 billion\u00a0for the year ending May 2012, \u00a0from R18.06 billion previously.<\/p>\n
Operating profit improved to R658.92 million, from R451.75 million in 2011, while headline earnings per share increased by 40% from 46.20 cents to 64.65 cents.<\/p>\n
The group said its board approved a gross ordinary dividend of 23 cents per ordinary share, from a dividend of 14 cents in 2011.<\/p>\n
In November 2010, Blue Label Telecoms and uBank, formerly Teba Bank, teamed up to “develop innovative banking solutions”. The bank has traditionally serviced mining workers, boasting a client base of about 500,000 at the end of 2011.<\/p>\n
Blue Label developed a platform for uBank which provides the back-end infrastructure to mobile banking solutions – such as cellphone banking, mobile wallets and electronic money transfer – and other value-added services, such as prepaid airtime and electricity, transport and event ticketing, and lotto.<\/p>\n
Joint-CEO of Blue Label Telecoms, Mark Levy told BusinessTech at the group\u2019s results presentation in Sandton: \u201c[Adoption is] a little slower than anticipated. I don\u2019t say this from a Blue Label perspective. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not as aggressive as we would like, but it\u2019s in play.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more, we believe, commitment of the customer (uBank) to start pushing the products and services to their customers. We can provision, but ultimately, it\u2019s their job to enable,\u201d Levy said.<\/p>\n
At the time of the initial partnership with uBank, Mark Levy said that Blue Label would investigate the possibility of acquiring a bank license.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not going for a banking license,” Levy said on Tuesday. \u201cOur view is that we will partner with as many banks as possible. We want to be an aggregator.”<\/p>\n
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