Naspers and Prosus Report Strong Growth with AI-Driven Strategy

Strong Financial Performance and AI-Driven Growth

Naspers and Prosus, two closely related technology investment companies, have reported significant growth in their ecommerce portfolio for the first half of the financial year. The companies achieved a remarkable five-fold increase in adjusted EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) to US$169 million for Naspers and US$181 million for Prosus 1

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Consolidated ecommerce revenue reached US$3.3 billion for Naspers and US$3.0 billion for Prosus, representing topline growth of 24% and 26% respectively. This strong performance has been attributed to the companies' focus on innovation and their strategic embrace of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

AI-First Strategy and Customer-Centric Approach

Group CEO Fabricio Bloisi emphasized the companies' commitment to leveraging AI to enhance their products and services for over 2 billion customers worldwide. He stated, "AI is transforming the way we work and how we serve our customers. We have data from billions of transactions across our portfolio that allow us to train AI models to personalise the customer experience and better predict their needs" 1

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The companies are positioning themselves to capitalize on the AI revolution, viewing it as a competitive advantage for their technology ecosystems. This AI-first mindset, combined with disciplined investment in building world-class marketplaces, is expected to drive future growth and profitability across their ecommerce portfolio.

Portfolio Management and Value Creation

Ervin Tu, President and CIO of Prosus and Naspers, highlighted the companies' recent successes in portfolio management. These include:

1. The listing of Swiggy, valued at US$11.3 billion
2. Asset sales exceeding US$2 billion, including a portion of their Swiggy stake and their entire Trip.com position
3. An ongoing share buyback program that has created US$36 billion in value since its launch 1

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The buyback program has resulted in a 12% NAV per share accretion for Naspers and a 10% NAV per share accretion for Prosus, making it the largest globally of any tech company as a portion of market capitalization.

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Ecommerce Portfolio Performance

The companies reported strong performance across their ecommerce portfolio:

1. Food Delivery: iFood reached a milestone of 100 million orders and achieved record profits
2. Classifieds (OLX Group): Demonstrated strong performance with continued growth and expanding margins
3. Payments & Fintech (PayU): Showed significant revenue growth and improving margins
4. Etail: Takealot Group and eMAG continued to grow, with eMAG on track for overall profitability by FY25
5. Edtech: Improving performance with a focus on profitability 1

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Leadership Changes and Future Outlook

The companies announced that Basil Sgourdos will retire as Group Chief Financial Officer after 29 years of service, effective November 30, 2024. Nico Marais will assume the role of Interim Chief Financial Officer for both Naspers and Prosus 1

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Additionally, Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa, currently the Chief Executive Officer of Naspers South Africa, is expected to be appointed as an executive director of Naspers Limited from April 1, 2025 1

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With a strong financial position and a clear strategy focused on AI integration and ecosystem leverage, Naspers and Prosus are poised for continued growth and value creation in the evolving technology landscape.