Blue Label beats Naspers, Vodacom to lead JSE tech rankings

Cell C’s largest shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms, is the best performing tech share on the JSE over last year – and over the last five years!

TechCentral took a look at the top-performing technology shares listed on the Johannesburg bourse between 23 April 2024 and 2 May 2025 as well as the period between 23 April 2020 and 2 May 2025 – and Blue Label came out on top in both.

The technology category on the JSE is made up of 14 companies, including Karooooo, Naspers and Lesaka Technologies. Like Blue Label, which is in the process of acquiring control of Cell C, telecommunications operators Vodacom Group, MTN Group and Telkom were included because of the tech focus of the industry.

Blue Label’s share price grew by 105% to R8.50 over the past year on the expectation that the picture at Cell C is improving following the appointment of a new management team and the successful conclusion of a recapitalisation of the mobile operator’s distressed balance sheet.

Blue Label’s portfolio consists of cash-generative value-added suppliers of airtime, data and electricity tokens, but Cell C has been a thorn in the group’s side for a long time.

Cell C has been involved in a series of turnaround plans for many years, though the business appears to have stabilised under the leadership of CEO Jorge Mendes, who was poached from a senior role at Vodacom. Cell C also shed its network infrastructure in lieu of a roaming model that has seen the operator receive international recognition for improvements in its network.

Brand refresh

Technology services group Altron took second place in the one-year category, with an 82% rise in its share price from R11.25 to R20.45. Datatec’s 70% growth in its share price over 12 months was closely followed by Telkom and iOCO (previously EOH Holdings), which tied for fourth place, with both shares growing by 60% in the past year.

iOCO’s renaming is part of a brand refresh aimed at rejuvenating the company’s reputation following a corruption scandal that nearly drove the business to the wall.

Key to its turnaround was a cost-cutting programme that saw iOCO shedding many of its loss-making subsidiaries – and a few profitable ones. The picture is looking promising: iOCO’s results for the six months to January showed a solid return to profit.

Read: African private equity firms double fundraising in a year

But the real performer has been Blue Label. As well as topping the comparison chart over a one-year period, its market-leading performance over five years is a reflection of sustained performance over a longer period.

Blue Label shares were trading for a mere R1.92 on 23 April 2020 with their rise to R8.50 by close of trading on 2 May representing a staggering 343% surge. Still, they’re trading well below their all-time record above R20/share set in 2016.

Best-performing JSE-listed tech shares over one year:

It is important to note that the entire market was deflated in April 2020 due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the first lockdown. The pandemic would, in a way, pay back the value lost by tech shares in particular in the following year or two as the growing work-from-home phenomenon increased the demand for tech-driven solutions.

Over five years, PBT Group – a data science specialist – followed closely behind with 270% growth in its share price. ISA Holdings, an information security specialist, took third place. ISA’s share price grew by 224% over five years, climbing from 54c to R1.75.

Best-performing JSE-listed tech shares over five years:

MTN Group is the second telco, other than Blue Label, to feature in the top five JSE-listed tech shares. MTN’s showing in the five-year category and absence in the one-year one reflects the challenges the mobile operator has faced in Nigeria in the past 18 months. Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market both by customer numbers and revenue, and a steep devaluation in the naira has impacted the group hard.

Read: Vodacom vs MTN vs Telkom in capex spend over 15 years

Mustek, another no-show in the one-year group, has shown impressive gains of 142% over five years, from R5.38 to R13. Mustek is the subject of a takeover bid from JSE-listed printing and packaging specialist Novus Holdings.  – © 2025 NewsCentral Media

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