{"id":613699,"date":"2025-10-10T12:02:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T10:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=613699"},"modified":"2025-10-10T12:04:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T10:04:39","slug":"cell-cs-missing-r10-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business-telecoms\/613699-cell-cs-missing-r10-billion.html","title":{"rendered":"Cell C’s missing R10 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cell C cannot explain why there is a R10 billion difference in the assets on its balance sheet between its reporting and that of its largest shareholder, Blue Label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C’s financial reporting has always been unreliable, with inconsistent metrics and conflicting numbers. This makes it impossible to accurately track its performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2023, for example, Cell C published a trading update which included its audited numbers for its 2021 and 2022 financial years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What stood out was that the figures Cell C shared with the market differed significantly from the previous market updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C previously reported a R2.45 billion profit in its 2021 financial year. That was changed to a R92 million loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also previously reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of R2.85 billion for its full year 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This trading update states that EBITDA for the 2021 financial year was only R0.2 billion, 92% lower than in the previous report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C CFO El Kope explained that the discrepancy between previous reports and the more recent updates is that the latest figures were audited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Previous numbers we provided to the market were not audited. The numbers we are now sharing are fully audited,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These examples of conflicting financial information are not unique. In fact, they have been the norm with Cell C for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Jorge Mendes took over as Cell C CEO, the company promised more consistent and transparent financial reporting to the market. This did not happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same inconsistent metrics and conflicting numbers continue to make it challenging for analysts to figure out what is really happening at Cell C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cell C CFO El Kope <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cell C’s missing R10 billion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cell C’s unaudited financial results for the 12 months ended 31 May 2025 provide a good example of its inconsistent financial reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of its results, Cell C said it had a stronger balance sheet on a structurally improved footing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said its assets increased by 22% to R5.072 billion. This was partly because the company recognised deferred tax assets in the current year as it returned to profitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total liabilities increased by 8% to R13.379 billion. It said the reduction in the trade and other payables was offset by the increase in non-current shareholder debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C explained that related party debt transactions account for approximately 60% of the total liabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiously, Blue Label Telecoms also reported on Cell C’s balance sheet, and it looked completely different from that of the mobile operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Blue Label, Cell C had R15.020 billion in assets and R16.065 billion in liabilities, which is a huge difference from what Cell C reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband asked Cell C why there was such a large difference between its numbers and those of Blue Label. However, Cell C preferred not to answer this question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C could also not say which balance sheet numbers the market should trust and use for their financial models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below shows the difference between Cell C and Blue Label Telecoms’ financial reporting for the 2025 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measure<\/strong><\/td>Cell C’s financial report<\/strong><\/td>Blue Label’s financial report<\/strong><\/td>Difference<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Total Assets<\/td>R5.074 billion<\/td>R15.020 billion<\/td>R9.946 billion<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Total Liabilities<\/td>R13.379 billion<\/td>R16.065 billion<\/td>R2.686 billion<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Equity<\/td>-R8.305 billion<\/td>-R1.044 billion<\/td>R7.261 billion<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cell C Balance Sheet: Blue Label versus Cell C’s reporting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The charts and tables below show the difference in financial reporting about Cell C from its main shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms, and from Cell C itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Blue Label’s Financial Reporting (R ‘000)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Year<\/strong><\/td>Assets<\/strong><\/td>Liabilities<\/strong><\/td>Equity<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2017<\/td>R18,948,000<\/td>R15,187,000<\/td>R3,761,000<\/td><\/tr>
2018<\/td>R26,986,501<\/td>R16,369,435<\/td>R10,617,066<\/td><\/tr>
2019<\/td>R26,114,208<\/td>R23,440,038<\/td>R2,674,170<\/td><\/tr>
2020<\/td>R15,641,155<\/td>R23,653,860<\/td>-R8,012,705<\/td><\/tr>
2021<\/td>R19,794,981<\/td>R25,354,319<\/td>-R5,559,338<\/td><\/tr>
2022<\/td>R18,138,711<\/td>R26,146,559<\/td>-R8,007,848<\/td><\/tr>
2024<\/td>R14,130,474<\/td>R17,309,515<\/td>-R3,179,041<\/td><\/tr>
2025<\/td>R15,020,220<\/td>R16,064,638<\/td>-R1,044,418<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Cell C’s Financial Reporting (R ‘000)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Year<\/strong><\/td>Assets<\/strong><\/td>Liabilities<\/strong><\/td>Equity<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2017<\/td>R18,949,193<\/td>R15,188,320<\/td>R3,760,873<\/td><\/tr>
2018<\/td>R25,644,191<\/td>R23,240,952<\/td>R2,403,239<\/td><\/tr>
2019<\/td>R13,943,000<\/td>R21,898,000<\/td>-R7,955,000<\/td><\/tr>
2020<\/td>R8,001,000<\/td>R12,412,000<\/td>-R4,411,000<\/td><\/tr>
2021<\/td>R6,334,000<\/td>R20,922,000<\/td>-R14,588,000<\/td><\/tr>
2022<\/td>R5,798,000<\/td>R15,092,000<\/td>-R9,294,000<\/td><\/tr>
2024<\/td>R4,159,016<\/td>R14,542,391<\/td>-R10,383,375<\/td><\/tr>
2025<\/td>R5,074,000<\/td>R13,379,000<\/td>-R8,305,000<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cell C cannot explain why there is a R10 billion difference in the assets on its balance sheet between its reporting and that of its largest shareholder, Blue Label.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":613362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41906],"tags":[1017,355,101774,92781,58256],"class_list":["post-613699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-telecoms","tag-blue-label-telecoms","tag-cell-c","tag-cell-c-cfo-el-kope","tag-el-kope","tag-jorge-mendes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613699"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":613719,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613699\/revisions\/613719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}