Naspers is planning to invest more in businesses including food delivery to help narrow the valuation gap between Africa\u2019s biggest company and its stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings.<\/p>\n
The 33% shareholding in the Shenzhen-based company is worth about $166 billion, while Naspers itself is valued at $124 billion. There\u2019s no reason for a discount at this \u201cunusually high level,\u201d Chief Financial Officer Basil Sgourdos said in phone interview on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working hard to scale our other businesses to reverse this,\u201d the CFO said. \u201cWe have strikingly accelerated our growth, profitability and scale especially in our e-commerce businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naspers sees food delivery as a particularly good opportunity, and is seeking more deals in the industry after the 660 million euros ($781 million) purchase of shares in Germany\u2019s Delivery Hero AG in September,\u00a0Sgourdos said.<\/p>\n
That business sits alongside iFood in Brazil, Swiggy of India and Mr Delivery in South Africa in the company\u2019s portfolio. Other e-commerce investments include online travel agents in India and education software providers in the US.<\/p>\n
\u2018Fantastic Returns\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen some fantastic returns when it comes to our investments in food businesses,\u201d the CFO said. \u201cRecently we have invested substantially in food delivery. We really do like the segment and we believe there is a fundamental growth opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n The CFO was speaking after Naspers reported a 65% increase in first-half adjusted net income to $3.50 per share. That compared with 31% growth the previous year, and was about in the middle of a range forecast by the Cape Town-based company on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n Tencent earlier this month posted third-quarter net income that beat estimates.<\/p>\n Naspers shares rose 1.5% to R3,834.97 at the close in Johannesburg, extending the year\u2019s gains to 91%.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the year\u2019s best performer on the FTSE\/JSE Africa Top40 Index. The company should buy back its own shares to take advantage of the discount to Tencent, veteran emerging markets investor Mark Mobius said last month.<\/p>\n Naspers is also Africa\u2019s largest pay-TV provider, and increased subscriber numbers by 11 percent to 12.2 million in the six-month period.<\/p>\n
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