{"id":635576,"date":"2026-03-27T14:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=635576"},"modified":"2026-03-27T14:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:01:32","slug":"small-cap-south-african-telecoms-companys-value-plunges-r770-million-in-5-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business-telecoms\/635576-small-cap-south-african-telecoms-companys-value-plunges-r770-million-in-5-years.html","title":{"rendered":"Small-cap South African telecoms company’s value plunges R770 million in 5 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Huge Group’s market capitalisation has plummeted from R986 million at its peak in April 2021 to R216 million as of 24 March 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JSE-listed telecoms company’s share price declined from R6.09 in April 2021 to R1.25 at market close on 24 March 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, the company’s share price reached lows not seen since 2014, trading at R0.65 at market close on 10 October 2025. While it has rebounded slightly since then, it is still far below its peak price. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2025, Huge Group CEO James Herbst said the low share price offered investors an opportunity and tremendous value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the company had grown from a single operating company to an investment entity listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) main board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herbst highlighted that Huge’s investment portfolio grew from two to 19 companies, valued at nearly R1.5 billion, with a net asset value of R929 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Herein, the very big opportunity is that we have a market cap of R150 million at a share price of 87 cents,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Now what that suggests is that we are trading at a significant discount to our underlying portfolio value of around 94%.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its last full financial year results in 2025, the company recorded a net loss of nearly R62 million, swinging from a net profit of R35 million in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the company’s worst financial performance in the last five years, and especially bad compared to a R517.64 million net profit in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company attributed the performance to various factors, including substantial fair value losses on investments, a decline in interest income, increased finance costs, and a decline in net fee income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huge Group said the total fair value of its investment portfolio declined from nearly R1.6 billion in 2024 to just under R1.5 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A primary driver of the overall net loss was a R119-million net loss from financial assets measured at fair value during the period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interest income declined from R98 million in 2024 to R65.5 million in 2025, due to certain interest-free loans disbursed to customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slight recovery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Huge Group’s reported full-year net profits\/losses from its 2020 financial year to 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Huge Group’s interim results for the first half of 2026 showed a marked improvement, with a net profit of R34.7 million for the six months ended 31 August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huge Distribution posted a net fair value gain of R25.6 million year-on-year for the six months ended 31 August 2025. Over the same period, Huge Connect’s fair value increased by R19.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combined, these gains helped offset the R45.2 million fair value loss from Huge TNS during the period. The operating performance of Huge Group’s Portfolio Investment Companies (PICs) has also improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rolling earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation for its PICs over the last 12 months increased from R160 million as of 28 February 2025 to R167 million as of 31 August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also realised strategic cost savings through the merger of Huge Connect and Huge TNS’s workforces during the first half of its 2026 financial year, bolstering its financial outlook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another major factor contributing to Huge Group Limited’s positive financial performance in the first half of the year was the elimination of major fee expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Group didn’t incur any fee expenses during the interim reporting period. In comparison, a hefty R34.7 million fee expense burdened its 2025 financial year results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Huge Group’s market cap plummeted between April 2021 and March 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":635651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41906],"tags":[103991,103033,1399,79768,97425,95793],"class_list":["post-635576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-telecoms","tag-huge-connect","tag-huge-distribution","tag-huge-group","tag-huge-group-limited","tag-huge-nxtgn","tag-huge-tns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635576"}],"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\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635576"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636225,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635576\/revisions\/636225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}