Naspers, the listed Internet and media firm, is eyeing history on the JSE as it marches towards R1,000 per share.<\/p>\n
Mof Terreblanche, a director of Stonehage Investment Partners, told Fin24 last week that when Naspers first listed on the JSE, 19 years ago this month (September),\u00a0it priced at R17.50 per share.<\/p>\n
And having closed its first day at R21,\u00a0Terreblanche said the capitalised value of Naspers amounted to R2.3 billion.<\/p>\n
Roll-on to Monday (16 September) and shares in Naspers closed at R940.01, giving the\u00a0group a market cap of R390.88 billion.<\/p>\n
Naspers had hit R948.99 on September 12, thanks in large part to its investments in Internet firm, Tencent. Its share price is up R444.10 rand, or 90%, over the past year alone.<\/p>\n
Its success lies in its successful transition from newspaper and magazine publisher, to global Internet and\u00a0multimedia player through an acquisition strategy, mostly in emerging-market Internet companies, including China\u2019s Tencent and Russia\u2019s Mail.ru.<\/p>\n
In its most recent results announcement in June, Naspers pointed to a revenue of\u00a0R50.2\u00a0billion in the year to March, with\u00a0Internet revenue up 80% to R34.6\u00a0billion.<\/p>\n
The next frontier in this space is a play in mobile, something CEO Koos Bekker, and chairman, Ton Vosloo have said that the group will target.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith over one billion\u00a0smartphones now accounting for 20% of all mobile devices worldwide, internet use is shifting steadily\u00a0from PC to mobile and tablets,\u201d\u00a0Vosloo said at a recent AGM.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some of our businesses, as much as a third of total traffic now stems\u00a0from mobile applications. While this trend disrupts existing business models, it also creates\u00a0opportunities for our talented engineers and committed people in some 130 countries around the\u00a0globe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Analysts believe that that Naspers will breach the landmark figure on the JSE sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
Paul Theron, CEO of\u00a0Vestact said: \u201cIf Tencent keeps going up, Naspers will crest R1,000 soon. That will be a first for a big-cap SA stock.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a fabulous portfolio of e-commerce and social media assets in emerging markets. Their market cap is only $30 billion, compared to giants like Google (10 times larger) – it’s got lots of space to grow.”<\/p>\n
He noted that the group’s TV brand, DStv, continues to reap huge rewards. “For one thing, their sports broadcasting operation is the best in the world,\u201d Theron said.<\/p>\n
Nadim Mohamed, an investment analyst and partner at First Avenue Investment Management said: \u201cYou have to take your hat off to Koos Bekker and team for the vision to move into the Internet businesses when companies like Tencent were not well known at all.”<\/p>\n
\u201cMy view is that its more a matter of when they\u2019ll reach R1,000 and not so much if they\u2019ll reach this milestone.”<\/p>\n
Mohamed said that, while Nasper’s share has run very hard already in September – meaning that it may come off its levels in the short-term – “longer term, there are so many avenues for growth”.<\/p>\n
The analyst pointed to mobile messaging and social networking in China, “which is still at the monetisation stage, as well as the Internet businesses such as Avito which are becoming number 1 or number 2 in their respective markets, and are likely to become profitable in the next 3 to 5 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
“It has to be one of the best emerging market Internet properties in the world,” Mohamed said.<\/p>\n
Nasper\u2019s principal operations are in Internet platforms, pay-television and the provision of related technologies and print media including publishing, distribution and printing of magazines, newspapers and books.<\/p>\n
Locally, it owns online retailers,\u00a0Kalahari.com\u00a0and PriceCheck, pay television operation\u00a0DStv, and Supersport, and\u00a0Mweb.<\/p>\n
Naspers chairman talks mobile growth<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Naspers revenue tops R50 billion<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The biggest companies in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Facebook lifts Naspers to record highs<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Naspers boss sitting on company stock goldmine<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n