Author: Gugu Lourie
South African firm Axon Wireless has launched Africa’s first ‘tap and go’ system for mobile SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card registration. Ivory Coast is the first country on the continent where mobile users are able to comply with KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements by simply placing their national identity cards on a mobile phone screen and letting the agent’s pre-loaded Axon software do the rest. By instantly reading and recording citizens’ identity information, SIMs are registered in an astonishing 45 seconds. “Mobile’s all about convenience and we’re extending that efficiency to the customer sign-up process. The system has…
The CEO and other executives of the troubled JSE-listed technology group 4Sight Holdings have resigned. The company informed investors on Wednesday that CEO Vince Raseroka has resigned with immediate effect, having also tendered his resignation as an employee. “To afford the reconstituted board the opportunity to allow for a smooth transition, Gary Lauryssen and Jason du Plessis will remain employed by the 4Sight Group. Tinus Neethling will remain in his current role as Telco Cluster head within the 4Sight Group,” the company informed investors. Lauryssen, du Plessis and Neethling have also resigned at 4Sight with immediate effect. The company announced…
Blue Label Telecoms remuneration committee seems not to be perturbed by shareholder destruction in the company. The committee has rewarded the executives handsomely despite the company’s market value being hit hard by poor investment in struggling mobile phone operator Cell C. Together with Cell C’s trading loss and further impairment of its property, plant and equipment and an impairment of our own investment, Blue Label recorded a net loss related to Cell C of more than R6 billion. The company which used to be regarded as a JSE’s best-kept secret has seen its shares plummet 50% year-to-date and dropped 87%…
Net 1, the company behind Cash Paymaster Services that used to run SA’s social grant payment system, has injected R300 million in embattled mobile phone operator Cell C. Cell C is 45% owned by JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms, 15% by Net 1, 3 Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) collectively hold 30% (in turn held by 3C Telecommunications and further in turn held as 29.4% by the Employee Believe Trust, 45.6% by Oger Telecoms and 25% by broad-based black empowerment grouping CellSAf); and Cell C Management and Staff hold 10%. Net 1 and Blue Label Telecoms have written down to zero the…
Net 1, the company behind Cash Paymaster Services that used to run SA’s social grant payment system, is considering selling its 30% stake in DNI, the largest wholesaler of Cell C starter packs in the country. The JSE and Nasdaq-listed firm has framed the sale to generate additional liquidity to fund its other businesses. Net 1 disclosed in its recently published annual report that on May 3, 2019, its wholly owned subsidiary, Net1 Applied Technologies South Africa or Net1 SA, entered into an agreement to grant a call option to DNI to acquire Net1 SA’s remaining 30% interest in DNI.…
The co-founders of Blue Label Telecoms, which owns 45% of Cell C, after having bought the stake in a R5.5-billion deal last year, have resigned from the mobile phone operators’ board. With immediate effect, both co-founders and co-CEOs of Blue Label Telecoms Brett and Mark Levy are relinquishing their positions as non-executive directors of the Cell C board. The market value of Blue Label Telecoms has been hammered by Cell C’s troubles in the past few years. “[The Levy Brothers] will be concentrating their efforts on Blue Label only,” Blue Label Telecoms informed investors on Thursday. It is understandably, Blue…
Altron is set to continue to seek acquisitions as the company seeks to widen its reach, according to the company’s CEO on Thursday. “Our focus will remain on organic growth, supplemented by acquiring select small-to-medium-sized businesses in our focus areas, which will lead to enhanced capabilities and expanded geographic footprint,” said Altron’s Group CEO Mteto Nyati. He didn’t provide further details about targeted potential buys. Altron reported on Thursday a 4% rise in headline earnings per share (HEPS) from continuing operations to 73 cents a share and an interim dividend of 29 cents per share was declared for the six…
Prosus on Tuesday announced a rival bid for the U.K. based food delivery service Just Eat. The Euronext and JSE-listed company has made a bid of 4.9 billion pounds ($6.35 billion or R94 billion) or 710 pence a share, in cash. Just Eat is looking to complete a merger with Takeaway.com. The Naspers-owned firm said offer represents a premium of 20% to the bid from Takeaway.com. “We believe our global experience and resources can help Just Eat to achieve its significant potential. Our plan is to support the Just Eat management team, with whom we have worked closely as joint…
Old Mutual has provided financial services and products to individuals and business customers since 1845. In a move aimed at experimenting at lower costs and improve the experience for existing customers and attract new ones, Old Mutual has turned to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Old Mutual has selected AWS as its preferred cloud provider and will migrate its digital customer platforms, core insurance applications, and product administration systems to the cloud. Old Mutual is an African financial services group that offers a broad spectrum of financial solutions to retail and corporate customers across key markets in 14 countries. “AWS provides…
Troubled mobile phone operator Cell C wants to transform itself into a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Cell C is unable to compete against bigger rivals, Vodacom, MTN and Telkom. In the year ended-May 2019, Cell C reported an after-tax net loss of R8 billion. Its woes are having a negative impact on JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms, which owns almost half of the mobile phone company. Blue Label Telecoms has written off its entire investment in Cell C to zero. In an interview with Financial Mail, Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson revealed the company’s turnaround plan. After years of losses,…