UNLIMITED
POTENTIAL
UNLIMITED
POTENTIAL
"Our focused portfolio and continued strategic progress have strengthened Blu Label's position as a scalable digital solutions platform, creating a clear foundation for sustainable growth and long-term value creation."
BRETT LEVY
Joint Chief Executive Officer
MARK LEVY
Joint Chief Executive Officer
FY26 represents one of the most significant years in Blu Label's history.
The successful listing of Cell C marked the culmination of a multi-year strategic journey that fundamentally reshaped both businesses and was a milestone that validated the conviction, resilience and long-term strategic vision that have characterised our approach over many years.
At the same time, it marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter.
Today, Blu Label stands as a significantly stronger, more diversified and strategically focused business than at any point in its history. We have evolved from our origins as a prepaid airtime distributor into a technology-enabled platform business operating at the intersection of telecommunications, fintech, payments, digital services, energy, data and customer enablement.
The successful execution of the Cell C turnaround and subsequent listing has enabled us to sharpen our strategic focus while maintaining meaningful participation in Cell C's future growth journey. Our significant shareholding preserves exposure to the value creation opportunities within Cell C while providing enhanced transparency and strategic flexibility for both organisations.
Importantly, the strength of the Group today extends far beyond any single asset.
Across our operating businesses, we continued to demonstrate the resilience of our diversified model, delivering growth in several core operations, advancing strategic initiatives and investing in the platforms that will underpin our next phase of expansion.
Our strategy remains centred on a simple objective: creating sustainable long-term value by leveraging technology, distribution and data to connect businesses and consumers to essential products and services.
Throughout FY26, management remained focused on four strategic priorities:
We made meaningful progress across each of these priorities.
Blu Label Distribution continued to perform strongly, delivering growth in face-value sales, gross profit and earnings. Strategic partnerships with leading banks, retailers and petroleum operators continue to reinforce our market leadership position and create opportunities for future expansion.
The Prepaid Company navigated a challenging telecommunications environment characterised by evolving consumer purchasing behaviour and increased channel competition. Despite these pressures, the business maintained profitability, strengthened key distribution partnerships and progressed several strategic initiatives, including prepaid fibre distribution and next-generation platform modernisation.
Cigicell delivered another resilient performance and continued to diversify its revenue streams beyond traditional vending activities. Revenue assurance has emerged as a significant growth opportunity, particularly following important municipal contract awards and the continued expansion of the Group's municipal services capability.
Collectively, these businesses continue to generate strong cash flows, maintain valuable customer relationships and provide the platform from which we are investing in future growth opportunities.
A defining characteristic of Blu Label has always been our willingness to invest in long-term opportunities. This philosophy underpinned our investment in Cell C and continues to guide our approach today.
During FY26, we made substantial progress across several strategic growth platforms that we believe have the potential to become meaningful contributors to future earnings.
Blu Energy advanced significantly towards establishing a scalable municipal and commercial energy platform. The approval of the City of Ekurhuleni escrow structure represented a critical milestone in creating bankable energy projects and advancing the Group's participation in South Africa's rapidly evolving energy landscape.
BluNova continued to mature its data, analytics, artificial intelligence and AdTech capabilities. We believe the Group possesses a unique combination of transactional, behavioural and distribution data assets that can be responsibly leveraged to create value across our portfolio companies and external clients.
Our investments in data governance, cybersecurity, POPIA compliance and information management are equally important. As technology becomes increasingly central to our operating model, protecting customer information and maintaining stakeholder trust remain fundamental priorities.
Meanwhile, BluAdvance continued to demonstrate the attractiveness of its platform, expanding its customer base and strengthening its position within the rapidly growing digital financial services ecosystem.
While several of these businesses remain at varying stages of maturity, collectively they represent important future growth vectors for the Group and reinforce our commitment to building long-term shareholder value.
Technology remains the foundation upon which our business is built.
The Group processed record transaction volumes during the year while maintaining exceptional platform availability and service levels. This performance reflects the strength of our technology infrastructure, the expertise of our teams and our ongoing commitment to operational excellence.
At the same time, the increasingly sophisticated cyber-threat environment requires constant vigilance.
We continued to invest significantly in information security, monitoring capabilities, governance frameworks and fraud prevention initiatives. These investments are essential to protecting our customers, our partners and our reputation.
As our businesses become increasingly digital, our ability to maintain secure, scalable and resilient technology platforms will remain a key competitive differentiator.
The achievements of FY26 would not have been possible without the commitment, adaptability and resilience of our people.
Across the Group, we continued to invest in employee development, leadership capability, skills enhancement and wellness initiatives. Significant progress was made in strengthening internal talent pipelines, supporting employee learning and fostering a culture that reflects the values of TeamBlu.
Attracting, developing and retaining exceptional talent remains one of our most important strategic priorities.
As the Group continues to evolve, our success will increasingly depend on our ability to build the next generation of leaders capable of driving innovation, execution and sustainable growth.
The successful Cell C Listing marks not an endpoint, but a new beginning. Blu Label enters FY27 with a strengthened balance sheet, a more focused portfolio, multiple emerging growth opportunities and an experienced leadership team committed to disciplined execution.
While economic conditions remain uncertain and competitive pressures persist across several sectors, we believe the Group is exceptionally well positioned to capture future opportunities.
Our priorities for the year ahead remain clear:
The entrepreneurial spirit that has defined Blu Label since inception remains deeply embedded within our culture.
We conclude by paying tribute to Larry Nestadt, who retires after 19 years of exceptional service to Blu Label. Larry has been an extraordinary mentor, trusted adviser and source of inspiration, whose leadership and contribution have helped shape the Group we are today. We also extend our sincere thanks to Joe Mthimunye for his valued service and congratulate him on his appointment as Chair of Cell C, where his experience and insight will continue to make an important contribution. Finally, we warmly welcome Lindsay Ralphs as Chair of Blu Label and look forward to benefiting from his leadership as the Group enters its next chapter.
BLU Label Unlimited Integrated Annual Report 2025