{"id":643421,"date":"2026-04-29T07:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=643421"},"modified":"2026-04-29T08:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:04:48","slug":"one-company-dominates-prepaid-electricity-and-airtime-in-south-africa-with-r108-billion-in-annual-turnover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/investing\/643421-one-company-dominates-prepaid-electricity-and-airtime-in-south-africa-with-r108-billion-in-annual-turnover.html","title":{"rendered":"One company dominates prepaid electricity and airtime in South Africa with R108 billion in annual turnover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Blu Label Unlimited dominates prepaid electricity and airtime in South Africa, with an annual turnover of R108 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company handles 50% to 55% of all prepaid telecommunications distribution and about 65% of all prepaid electricity distribution in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blu Label Unlimited co-CEO Brett Levy shared this information during an EasyEquities webinar, which focused on Blu Label Unlimited’s Interim Results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A standout feature of the reporting period was the successful restructuring and subsequent listing of Cell\u00a0C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a multi-year process in which Blu Label played a pivotal role, Cell\u00a0C has been repositioned as a leaner, asset-light, wholesale-enabled operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This restructuring and listing of Cell\u00a0C included a series of strategic transactions which impacted Blu Label’s interim results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It therefore makes sense to look at Blu Label’s normalised financial information to better understand its performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a normalised basis for the six months ended 30 November 2025, Blu Label generated revenue of R5.0 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It achieved a gross income of R1.353 billion, and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) of R535 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its net profit after tax for the six months was R389 million, and its headline and core headline earnings were R398 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company announced an interim dividend of 43.56 cents per share, which was music to shareholders’ ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blu Label Unlimited dominates prepaid electricity and airtime in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Mark and Brett Levy, Blu Label co-founders and CEOs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Levy said that Blu Label Unlimited is the same for the prepaid industry in South Africa as what SAB is for the beer industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that Blu Label consists of four elements, each with its own strengths:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Cell C<\/strong> \u2014 It is a fully separate, listed entity within the Blu Label stable, with an arms-length trading agreement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Core Blu Label<\/strong> \u2014 Prepaid electricity and airtime distribution, which dominates the market.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • BluEnergy<\/strong> \u2014 This is the company’s unicorn, and the company has positioned itself in the energy market for years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Peripheral services<\/strong> \u2014 These services sit on the periphery and plug into the company’s core activities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Levy explained that Blu Label’s core element, prepaid vouchers and distribution, is where it dominates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          “We do between 50% and 55% of all prepaid distribution in South Africa’s telecommunications market,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          “We also do around 65% of all prepaid electricity distribution in the country, and service 35 million customers monthly.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          These and other products and services helped Blu Label Unlimited to reach R108 billion in revenue over the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Levy said that these numbers show that they do not need more revenue, customers or merchants. However, the company remains hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          “Every morning, we wake up and work to grow our revenue, merchant base, and customer base,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          He said their current focus is on increasing the margin they derive from their R108 billion in revenue and 35 million customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          “An increase of 0.4% to 0.5% on our gross profit margins will double the profit of Blue Label Unlimited,” he explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Blu Label Unlimited dominates prepaid electricity and airtime in South Africa, with an annual turnover of R108 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":594210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80335],"tags":[104813,101320,4064,355,19969],"class_list":["post-643421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-blu-energy","tag-blu-label-unlimited","tag-brett-levy","tag-cell-c","tag-mark-levy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643421"}],"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=643421"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643653,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643421\/revisions\/643653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}