S.Africa's Naspers profit doubles on Tencent, e-commerce performance

(Reuters) -South Africa's Naspers said on Monday its full-year earnings more than doubled, buoyed by improved performance of its e-commerce businesses and contribution from China's Tencent, which accounts for the bulk of earnings and revenues.

The technology investor said its core headline earnings per share, a key indicator of operating performance in South Africa, from continuing operations rose to 1,148 U.S. cents for the year ended March 31, from a restated 546 cents a year ago.

Naspers, with global investments housed in Amsterdam-listed Prosus, said its consolidated e-commerce business has achieved profitability in the second half of the year, ahead of its expectation for first half of 2025.

The firm posted an annual consolidated e-commerce trading profit of $24 million, compared with a loss of $435 million.

Consolidated revenue from continuing operations grew 8% to $6.4 billion, with Classifieds and Food Delivery businesses being the biggest contributors, it said.

Naspers controls Amsterdam-listed Prosus and holds its international investments there.

It has investments in food delivery companies iFood of Brazil, Delivery Hero and India's Swiggy, educational software firms such as SkillSoft and Stack Overflow, and payments companies such as India-focused PayU.

Prosus also holds a stake in Chinese software and gaming giant Tencent, which it sold down to 25% from 26.2% last year, to fund a rolling share buyback program.

Naspers and Prosus say the buybacks benefit shareholders because Prosus is worth 30% less than the value of the Tencent stake, or $98 billion at current prices.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla and Prerna Bedi; Editing by Rashmi Aich)