Blu Label Unlimited Group’s highest earner took home R36.5-million in the year to May, about 470 times the R77 400 earned by its lowest-paid permanent employee, according to pay-gap disclosures now required under the amended Companies Act.
The median employee earned R495 000, so the top earner was paid about 74 times as much. The top 5% of earners received 75.3 times as much as the bottom 5%, the group said in its integrated annual report, published on Wednesday. The figures cover permanent employees who worked the full year and include salaries, benefits and short- and long-term incentives processed through payroll. The report does not identify the highest earner.
Joint CEOs Brett and Mark Levy each earned R33-million in total in the 2026 financial year, down 12% from R37.4-million. Financial director Dean Suntup’s pay rose 9% to R18.7-million, including a once-off R2.5-million bonus for his work on the restructuring and listing of Cell C.
The pay outcomes cover a year in which Blu Label swung to a reported loss because of the accounting for Cell C’s separation and listing, while its normalised earnings held up and it resumed dividend payments for the first time in eight years.
Each Levy’s package comprised R12.9-million in fixed pay, a short-term bonus of R7.7-million, R11.7-million in shares from the 2023 long-term incentive plan, valued at the 31 May share price, and R681 000 in dividends on those shares.
The bonuses were well below target. The Levys’ short-term incentives paid out at 60% of fixed pay, against a target of 100% and a maximum of 150%; Suntup’s performance bonus, excluding the once-off payment, came to 42% of fixed pay against a 70% target.
Cell C lifts share awards
Normalised Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), as measured for bonus purposes, came in at R620-million, short of the R790-million threshold, so that metric paid nothing. The figure is lower than the R923-million normalised Ebitda Blu Label published with its results, partly because the remuneration committee chose not to add back R339-million of impairments and disposal losses unrelated to Cell C. Core headline earnings per share, as measured for the bonus, came in at 71.56c, just below the 71.7c target.
The committee excluded Cell C from both bonus measures, saying the accounting effects of acquiring, restructuring and listing it could not be built into the year’s business plan.
The long-term awards were a different story. Under the 2023 plan, each Levy was awarded 1.82 million shares at R3.22. Seventy percent of the award vests, giving each 1.27 million shares worth R11.7-million at the 31 May share price of R9.19 – 185% above the award price. The shares are due to vest on 31 August 2026.
The committee included Blu Label’s share of Cell C’s earnings in the plan’s earnings test. Cell C reported net profit of R4.16-billion for the year to May, but the committee stripped out R3.02-billion of restructuring, recapitalisation and listing items, leaving normalised profit of R1.14-billion. Blu Label’s share, R614.7-million, added 67.95c a share to its own normalised core headline earnings of 71.56c, taking the total to 139.51c – above the plan’s stretch target of 132.35c.
That would have vested the earnings component at its maximum, but the committee used its discretion to cut it back to target, saying the result depended on normalisation adjustments relating to Cell C. A return-on-capital test failed outright: average return on capital employed of 14.8% over three years fell short of the 15.35% average cost of capital, so that component vested at zero.
The report also shows how share awards held up by the Cell C deal were handled. The Levys and Suntup were in a closed period, which restricted them from dealing in Blu Label shares, until 24 November 2025. Their 2024 and 2025 long-term awards were only granted after that.
The 2024 award, granted on 27 November 2025, used an issue price of R4.93 – the price set when the award was originally due to be made in November 2024. That gave each Levy 1 257 969 shares. The 2025 award, granted the next day, used an issue price of R12.35, giving each 522 256 shares.
At the R12.35 used for the 2025 award, the 2024 tranche would have been worth about R15.5-million, compared with about R6.2-million at R4.93. The report values each Levy’s 2024 tranche at R11.6-million at 31 May. Both awards remain subject to performance conditions and are due to vest in August 2027 and August 2028 respectively.
Shareholder support
Shareholder support for Blu Label’s remuneration policy and its implementation rose from 58% at the 2024 AGM to 80% at the 2025 AGM, according to the report. Both go to a vote again at the AGM on 26 November.
The Levys hold far more Blu Label stock than the company requires of its executives. Brett Levy’s holding is worth 51.8 times his fixed pay and Mark Levy’s 46.5 times, against a minimum of twice fixed pay.
Lindsay Ralphs, who replaced Larry Nestadt as chairman in August, is in line for a fee of R2-million in the 2027 financial year, subject to shareholder approval. Nestadt’s chairman’s fee was R2.53-million; including committee fees, he was paid R3.1-million in the 2026 financial year. — © 2026 NewsCentral Media
