Africa’s Most Valuable Company Naspers Suffers 48% Drop in Profits

Naspers, the South Africa-headquartered multinational internet group, on Friday, reported a 48 percent fall in profit for the six months to September 30, signaling a drop in gains from its stake in China’s Tencent.

The group which prides itself in being the most-valuable publicly-traded business in Africa, saw its headline earnings per share, the main profit measure in South Africa, fall to 326 cents from a revised 624 cents a year earlier.

Naspers has principal operations in internet communication, entertainment, gaming, and e-commerce.

In 2001, Naspers made an early and successful investment of USD 32 Mn in Tencent; the Chinese multinational conglomerate which is one of the world’s most valuable technology companies. As of 2018, Naspers had approximately a 31 percent stake in Tencent and is its largest shareholder.

Naspers’ investment in Tencent also appears to be the main driver of the value of its own stock and has since overshadowed the operational aspects of the Naspers business. It has also made less notable investments in other technology companies. In December 2018, Naspers invested USD 1 Bn in India’s foodtech giant, Swiggy.

Other major brands owned by Naspers include ibibo, Multiply, Property24, Buscape, PayU, Movile, SimilarWeb, SuperSport, MNet, Takealot, OLX, Media24, and several others.

Earlier this year, Naspers announced listing its international internet assets on Euronext Amsterdam as Prosus.

More to follow…

Featured Image Courtesy: TheBusinessTimes