Blue Label hopes for fatter wallet in India

BLUE Label Telecoms incurred losses in its operations in India for the financial year ended May, following extensive investment in its mobile wallet business.

But the business could yield big results in years to come, according to the company.

Losses in India were R27.6-million, but over the past financial year the company has grown its base to 22.6 million subscribers, up from 5.4 million.

Blue Label is hoping the size of the largely unbanked Indian population will help give it a foot in the door, even though it won’t be the biggest player in the market.

Joint CEO Mark Levy said this week: “We don’t have a clear picture of when we’ll break even [in India], but if you look at the volumes and the need, we’re confident that we’ll be able to see some significant growth in that business.

“We’re diversifying our product range. In order to do that, we have to put a lot of money into marketing and developing that market. We want a bigger share of that mobile wallet space and we have to spend on it to achieve that scale.”

Peter Takaendesa, an analyst at Mergence Investment Managers, said: “The strong growth in wallets to over 22 million is quite encouraging and could provide the economies of scale necessary for long-term profitability.”

Levy is confident that the company will be able to achieve scale through partnerships with organisations such as the National Payments Corporation of India.

Regardless of the losses, analysts said it was clear that the longterm opportunity was there.

“It will take time to build scale and monetise the subscriber base, therefore in the short to medium term the returns are unlikely to be great,” said Matthew Zunckel, an investment analyst at Mvunonala Asset Management.

Levy said Blue Label would not put any more money into the mobile wallet.

In Mexico, the company made a R63-million loss, an improvement when compared to the previous financial year’s R89-million loss.

But analysts are concerned that the Mexican business will remain under pressure.

“The losses remain material,” Zunckel said. “And the tone of management indicating an aim to merely continue reducing losses implies the business will not return to profitability in the short to medium term. The Mexican business continues to be a poorly performing venture.”

But Levy was confident that Blue Label’s strategic partnership with the Mexican banking outlet Grupo Bimbo would provide a distribution channel and market penetration.

Blue Label’s partnership allows it to expand its airtime distribution network by installing point-of-sale infrastructure throughout the banking group’s network in Mexico.

In Mauritius, revenue jumped 361% to R19-million, from a R7million loss in 2015.

As a result of losses incurred from the businesses in India and Mexico, the group’s international segment saw a combined loss of R71-million. But overall, the group’s revenue rose by 19% to R26.2-billion and profit increased by 11% to R1.2-billion.

Blue Label’s South African operations have fared rather better than its international ones. Commission earned from the prepaid electricity business was up 20% to R197-million. Its South African operations include the distribution and sale of prepaid airtime, data and starter packs. It also supplies products to retailers such as pointof-service devices, tablets, handsets and phones.

Levy’s brother Brett, the company’s other joint CEO who looks after the South African side of the business, said Blue Label would focus on expanding its retail distribution network through partnerships with Edgars.

On Blue Label’s drive to acquire a stake in Cell C, he said the company would pay about R4-billion for a stake of 30% to 35%. “We’re excited about the acquisition,” he said.

Some analysts are not convinced of the advantages of this move, expressing concern that a Cell C stake would affect Blue Label’s distribution relationship with other mobile operators in South Africa.

Blue Label’s South African operations have fared rather better than its international ones