{"id":624098,"date":"2026-01-06T16:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T14:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=624098"},"modified":"2026-03-22T07:27:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T05:27:31","slug":"sharenet-explains-changes-in-blu-label-shareholding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/investing\/624098-sharenet-explains-changes-in-blu-label-shareholding.html","title":{"rendered":"Sharenet explains changes in Blu Label shareholding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sharenet CEO Giuseppe Lorusso has dismissed allegations that they promoted Blu Label Unlimited (BLU) and then sold a large stake held in the company through their Local Alpha Plus portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharenet and portfolio manager Dylan Bradfield have been strong supporters of Blu Label and have held the share since late 2022 from the R4.50 per share level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past year, the Blu Label Unlimited share price has experienced a remarkable surge, increasing by more than 80%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has helped the Local Alpha Plus portfolio to achieve an annualised return of 43.5%, well above the JSE SA All Share Index\u2019s 25.7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharenet\u2019s and Bradfield\u2019s bullish stance on Blu Label Unlimited has drawn significant attention, especially after the strong share price growth substantiated their position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A prominent financial sector and markets commentator, CJPraat, suggested that Sharenet did not practice what it preaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CJPraat claimed that the Sharenet Fund, which Bradfield manages, cut their stake in Blu Label Unlimited by 63% in the third quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The account published copies of Sharenet\u2019s June and September 2025 fact sheets to substantiate the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These showed that the Local Alpha Plus portfolio\u2019s Blue Label holding decreased from 17.5% to 6.4% over the three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey replaced Blu Label with Telkom as the largest equity holding. Telkom is 12.6% of the fund,\u201d said CJPraat. \u201cWatch what they do, not what they say.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharenet\u2019s latest fact sheet for its Local Alpha Plus portfolio, dated November 2025, shows that neither BLU nor Telkom are in its top 5 holdings anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the portfolio is majority cash (52.7%), followed by Balwin Properties (4.3%), Absa (4.1%), AECI (4.0%), and Pepkor (3.3%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sharenet explains the change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sharenet CEO Giuseppe Lorusso dismissed the allegations by CJPraat, explaining that the reality is far removed from CJPraat\u2019s speculation and allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said it would be impossible for a fund which held a small portion of Blu Label shares to move the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast to CJPraat\u2019s claims, Sharenet\u2019s Local Alpha Plus Portfolio increased its absolute holdings in Blu Label between June 2025 and September 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the Local Alpha Plus Portfolio increased its holdings in Blue Label from 205,000 shares on 30 June 2025 to 254,000 shares on 30 September 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suggestion that Sharenet\u2019s Local Alpha Plus Portfolio sold or dumped shares during this period is inaccurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMovements in Blu Label’s share price cannot properly be attributed to Sharenet\u2019s portfolio decisions,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CJPraat\u2019s claim that Sharenet replaced its Blu Label Unlimited with Telkom is also inaccurate and does not reflect that fund\u2019s shareholding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This raises the question as to why the Local Alpha Plus Portfolio\u2019s fact sheet shows a decline in percentage shareholding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason is less sinister than what CJPraat suggested. Over this period, there were R19.78 million in client inflows, doubling its assets under management to R35.4 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The significant increase in the cash holding of the Local Alpha Plus Portfolio between June 2025 and September 2025 shows this inflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lorusso stated that the baseless “pump and dump” claims against Sharenet overlook the facts, which are outlined in their portfolio documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Article amendment<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband amended the original article based on feedback from Sharenet CEO Giuseppe Lorusso, which contradicted CJPraat\u2019s allegations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The updated article contains additional information about the Local Alpha Plus Portfolio\u2019s shareholding and capital flows.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This information dismissed concerns of any improper, unethical, or manipulative trading activity by Sharenet, its directors, portfolio managers, or clients.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also shows that no independent evidence exists to support the social media allegations by CJPraat.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes suggestions that movements in Blu Label’s share price could be attributed to Sharenet\u2019s portfolio decisions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharenet further highlighted that no regulatory authority has made any adverse finding against it in this regard.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: Sharenet has denied allegations that it promoted Blu Label and then sold a large stake in the company through its Local Alpha Plus Portfolio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":624127,"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":[80335],"tags":[101320,1017,102757,88067,102758,88069],"class_list":["post-624098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-blu-label-unlimited","tag-blue-label-telecoms","tag-cjpraat","tag-dylan-bradfield","tag-giuseppe-lorusso","tag-sharenet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624098"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}