Massive earnings jump for South Africa’s largest company

Naspers, South Africa’s largest company by market capitalisation, is expecting a massive boost in earnings thanks to e-commerce profit and Tencent.

The Prosus group is finalising its financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025. The Dutch-based Prosus is a subsidiary of Naspers and holds its international assets.

The financial results of Prosus almost account entirely for Naspers’s results, with the two companies having a combined market cap of R3 billion.

Starting in the media space in South Africa, Naspers is now a major technology holding company, with a large part of its wealth tied to Chinese tech giant Tencent.

The group expects its earnings per ordinary share to increase by 98.4% to 107.8%. This is mainly due to the group’s improved profitability and lower impairment charges.

Headline earnings per share are expected to also increase by between 98.4% and 107.8%, while core headline earnings jumped by 57.1% to 66.7%

These jumps are driven by accelerated growth and improved profitability from its consolidated e-commerce businesses and equity-accounted investments, especially Tencent.

The group noted that the gains related to the sell-down of Tencent and the impact of impairment charges are excluded from headline and core headline earnings per share.

Despite its lower figure, the board believes that core headline earnings are an appropriate indicator of the group’s operating performance, as it is adjusted for non-operational items.

The group added that it benefited from strong operations, strategic investments and partnerships.

Tencent and its e-commerce segment contributed positively to its financial performance, with the latter beating expectations.

Looking ahead, the group will focus on e-commerce businesses in Latin America, India, and Europe, as it looks to AI to drive sustainable, profitable growth.

The group’s financial statements will be published on Monday, 23 June 2025, with the following earnings ranges expected: