JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms, which owns 45% of mobile operator Cell C, said on Friday that it will report a big jump full-year headline earnings when it reports results next week.

In a trading statement for the year ended 31 May 2021, Blue Label said headline earnings per share (Heps) will rise by between 46% and 50%, while core Heps will rise by between 41% and 45%. Basic earnings per share (Beps) will jump by as much as 583%, though most of that is due to once-off items.

“The increase in Beps is primarily attributable to the disposal of the group’s 47.56% interest in Blue Label Mexico, a positive movement from a negative contribution by the retail division of the WiConnect stores in the prior year to a partial recoupment of losses in the current year, and the non-reoccurrence of impairments of goodwill and fair-value downward adjustments in the prior year,” the group said in a statement to shareholders. A decision was made to cease the operations of the WiConnect retail stores in the previous financial year.

Cash generated from operating activities amounting to R1.5-billion.

Core headline earnings for the year ended 31 May 2021 came to R788-million, equating to core headline earnings of 89.65c/share, of which R763-million related to continuing operations and R25-million to discontinued operations. Core headline earnings for the prior year were R562-million, or 62.71c/share, of which R469-million related to continuing operations and R93-million to discontinued operations.

‘Resilient’

“On exclusion of non-recurring income of R47-million in the current year and extraneous costs of R163-million in the prior year, core headline earnings from continued operations increased by R84-million from R632-million to R716-million. Accordingly, core headline earnings per share from continuing operations increased by 16%, from 70.54c/share in the prior year to 81.5c,” Blue Label said.

“In spite of the Covid-19 pandemic impacting many of our merchants and their consumers, our performance and operating model both remain resilient and we continue to deliver essential services, including electricity, airtime, data, and other digital and financial transactional services to the communities throughout this challenging period.”