South Africa's Naspers lifts 1st-half profit, internet unit robust

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 27 (Reuters) - South African e-commerce and media group Naspers reported a 41 percent jump in half-year profit on Friday, helped by a big contribution from its Chinese internet unit Tencent (HKSE: 0700-OL.HK - news) .

Naspers, which owns more than a third of China's biggest social network and online entertainment firm, said core headline earnings per share totalled 2,098 cents in the six months to the end of September compared with 1,486 cents a year earlier.

Sales rose 24 percent to 74.3 billion rand ($5.20 billion)driven by strong growth in the e-commerce segment that includes Tencent, the Cape Town-based company said in a statement.

Africa's largest company by market value, Naspers has transformed itself from an apartheid-era publisher into a $60 billion internet powerhouse by focusing on e-commerce in emerging markets.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) has operations in more than 130 countries and a stake in Russian internet group Mail.Ru Group.

($1 = 14.2850 rand) (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by Susan Thomas)