Blue Label Group generated growth in revenue, and core headline earnings per share for the half-year ended November 2019, representing a turnaround from the prior period.<\/p>\n
“This was a resilient performance in an adverse economic environment,” it said.<\/p>\n
The group, specialists in prepaid products and the electronic distribution of virtual merchandise, has undergone a difficult time since its acquisition of a majority holding in mobile operator Cell C. <\/span><\/p>\n However, Cell C is no longer a feature following Blue Label\u2019s decision to fully impair its exposure to the struggling operator, in 2019.<\/p>\n Revenue from continuing operations climbed 2% to R11.5 billion, while the group reported an increase in gross profit of 10%, to R1.21 billion.<\/p>\n Gross profit increased by 10% from R1.1 billion to R1.2 billion, underpinned by an increase in margins from 9.75% to 10.52%.<\/p>\n Net profit from continuing operations amounted to R313 million, from a prior loss of R201 million.<\/p>\n Earnings per share and headline earnings per share increased from a negative 15.11 and 17.54 cents per share to a positive 34.83 and 39.98 cents per share respectively.<\/p>\n Core headline earnings for the half-year period amounted to R390 million, equating to core headline earnings of 43.18 cents per share compared to core headline losses of 13.90 cents per share in the comparative period.<\/p>\n On inclusion of the gross amount generated on “PINless top-ups”, prepaid electricity, ticketing and gaming, the effective increase equated to 12% from R27.1 billion to R30.3 billion, Blue Label said.<\/p>\n It said that the comparative period reflected fair value losses of R493 million relating to the exposure to Cell C investment vehicles SPV1 and SPV2, as well as to the recognition of the group\u2019s share of equity accounted losses in Cell C of R133 million.<\/p>\n The core headline earnings of R390 million comprised R323 million from continuing operations and the R67 million that pertained to the discontinued operations.<\/p>\n
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