"David bought Goliath," reflects Brett Levy, Blue Label Telecoms co-CEO, on its stake in Cell C after the company presented a set of less than favourable results for the year ended December 2018. The market has doubted Blue Label's ability to carry Cell C's giant losses. And with a market capitalisation of R3.91bn, Blue Label is now valued at less than the R5.5bn used to acquire its 45% stake in SA's third-largest mobile operator. The company's share price fell 25% on the day. "The recapitalisation was massive. I don't think people give credit for how big it was. The last 12 to 15 months have been about concentrating on Cell C, fix it, clean it up . I would say we're about 80% of the way there now," Levy told Business Times. After making an operating profit of R1.44bn, the mobile operator ended the year with a loss of R1.27bn as more than R4bn in financing costs hit its returns. Cell C this week appointed Douglas Craigie Stevenson as interim CEO after he had served as the company's ...
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