Blu Label Unlimited's chairman of the board, Larry Nestadt will be stepping down in August after a nearly 19-year run at the company.
Longstanding chairman of Blu Label Unlimited (formerly Blue Label Telecoms), Larry Nestadt, is stepping down on 26 August 2026, ending a nearly 19-year era at the South African tech giant.
Nestadt was originally appointed to the board as an independent non-executive director on 5 October 2007. He is set to be succeeded as chairman by Lindsay Peter Ralphs.
With over 40 years of experience, Nestadt is one of South Africa’s most tenured and most experienced corporate and business professionals.
He is one of the co-founders and former executive director of Investec Bank. He was also instrumental in the creation and strategic development of other listed South African companies.
This included Capital Alliance Holdings, Super Group, Hosken Consolidated Investments, SIB Holdings, and Global Capital Limited, where he was the past chairman on the boards of each of these companies.
Nestadt also served on the boards of directors of Softline Limited, JCI Limited, and Abacus Technologies Holdings, and was a former director of several non-listed companies internationally.
He held tenures at Stenham Limited in the United Kingdom, Prefsure Life Limited in Australia, and is currently the executive chairman of Global Capital Proprietary Limited.
He is also the chairman of the Pro Shop — World of Golf Group, Melrose Nissan-Renault-Infiniti, SellDirect Marketing and Placo Holdings.
The 76-year-old businessman is also the chairman of Dis-Chem Pharmacies and was the deputy chairman of Cell C Limited. However, he resigned from this position in November 2025.
Blu Label first informed shareholders that Nestadt would be stepping down from the board of directors on 24 February. It said that the chairman was set to formally retire in August.
Ralphs, Nestadt’s successor, is the former CEO of Bidvest Bank. He will assume the mantle of chairman following Blu Label Unlimited’s year-end meeting this month.
The incoming chair is a chartered accountant who, Blu Label said, had an extensive and successful background in listed companies, specialising in operations, strategy, and governance.
“He has demonstrated expertise in scaling businesses, driving sustainable growth, and chairing boards in diverse sectors, including trading and distribution, services, and healthcare,” it said.
Ahead of Nestadt’s imminent departure, Blu Label published its annual results for the year ended 31 May 2026, reporting a net loss of R4.88 billion.
The technology group’s decline in financial performance was largely due to the costly restructuring of Cell C before it could be publicly listed.
Through its subsidiary, The Prepaid Company (TPC), Blu Label continues to hold a 49.53% stake in Cell C. It is Cell C’s largest shareholder.
TPC agreed to extinguish R4.1 billion of Cell C’s debts prior to its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), stabilising its balance sheet and giving it a fighting chance.
This restructuring weighed heavily on Blu Label. Headline earnings per share shrank 82% to 83.58 cents, compared to 455.96 cents the year prior.
Revenue also declined from R14.05 billion to R13.05 billion, a 7% decrease. There were some encouraging signs when excluding the impact of Cell C’s restructuring from Blu’s results.
These normalised earnings showed that group revenue rose 7% to R99.9 billion, driven by the inclusion of gross amounts generated from ‘PINless top-ups’, prepaid electricity, ticketing and universal vouchers.
Normalised net profit after tax also stood at R677 million, while its headline and core headline earnings stood at R681 million.
Despite the financial impact of the restructuring, Blu Label’s board approved a gross dividend of 10 cents per ordinary share, payable from income reserves.
“Together with the interim dividend of 43.56 cents per ordinary share declared in February 2026, this brings the total dividends declared in respect of the year ended 31 May 2026 to 53.56 cents per share.”
“As the final dividend was declared after the reporting date, it has not been recognised in the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2026.”
