Under CEO Jorge Mendes , the once struggling company is going through another recapitalisation aimed at gaining financial independence from largest shareholder Blue Label Telecom.
Mendes said the groups free cash flow before debt obligations is expected to turn positive in about two months, while its operational cash flow is basically positive, chief financial officer El Kope added.
Thats a very good position, because that allows us to stop borrowing money to run the business, Mendes said in an interview late on Wednesday. Now we start looking at ways of how to sort out longer-term debts, shareholder loans, but not at the risk of compromising the operational business.
Blue Label bought a 45% stake in Cell C for R5.5-billion in 2017 and increased it to a non-controlling 49.53% stake in 2022 after lending Cell C R1.03-billion to partially settle its debt. It also provided working capital.
