Mzansi tech investor Naspers Ltd reported its first half profit climbed 11%, the move is driven by a large contribution from Chinese internet giant Tencent in which it indirectly holds a 29% stake.
Its core headline earnings per share, which strips out gains or losses from non-operational items, stood at 416 U.S. cents, versus the 376 cents per share posted a year earlier, Reuters reported.
The company’s Chief executive Bob van Dijk said in a statement, “Our progress is reflected in the increasing value attributed to our ecommerce portfolio and, to capture the significant opportunity ahead, we stepped up investment in our core segments.”
Africa’s biggest company by market capitalisation, has parked all its international assets, including its Tencent stake, in its Amsterdam-listed subsidiary Prosus NV, in which it holds a 57% stake. The company, through Prosus, has investments spread across a multitude of online businesses including classified ads, food delivery, payments and education in countries from Brazil to India to China as well as in many parts of Europe.
Naspers, which also owns Media24 and e-commerce company takealot.com in South Africa, posted half-year revenue of $17.2 billion, up 29% from a year ago.
“We have been investors in Tencent for over 20 years, with the only prior disposal being 2% in 2018. In both cases, proceeds were used to fund our strategic ambitions,” adds Dijk.
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