Blue Label expects earnings boost – with a warning 

Blue Label expects a significant earnings boost for its financial year through May 2024 but warned that earnings would actually decline without the inclusion of several once-off factors, including Cell C’s recapitalisation.

The telecoms giant told shareholders that core headline earnings for the year ended 31 May 2024 amounted to R679 million, up from R402 million in 2023.

This equates to core headline earnings of 76.08 cents per share, compared to the 45.55 cents per share recorded in 2023.

However, the company warned that when excluding the following factors, core headline actually earnings declined by 34%:

• Positive contributions of R66 million in the 2024 financial year
• Negative contributions of R523 million in the 2023 financial year, primarily resulting from the recapitalisation transaction of Cell C

When excluding these factors, core headline earnings declined by R312 million – going from R925 million down to R613 million. 

Consequently, core headline earnings per share also dropped by 34%, from 104.83 cents per share to 68.66 cents per share.

When excluding the positive and negative contributions from both the 2023 and 2024 financial years, earnings per share declined by 35% to 65.07 cents per share.

However, with these factors included, Blue Label expects to report earnings within the following ranges:

	May 2023  (cents per share)	May 2024 expected range (cents per share)	Percentage increase
Earnings per share	30.48	71.88 to 73.10	136% to 140%
Headline earnings per share	41.97	72.80 to 74.48	73% to 77%
Core headline earnings per share	45.55	75.17 to 76.99	65% to 69%