Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said the Naspers-controlled technology investment group plans to sell more than US$2-billion (R32-billion) in non-strategic and underperforming assets in its current financial year, with “even higher volume” of disposals to follow in the next.
In an investor letter published on Thursday, Bloisi said there are no plans for large mergers or acquisitions for now, with the group instead focused on driving efficiency, growth and profitability across its existing portfolio.
“To be clear on our road map, my focus is 100% on the fundamentals,” Bloisi wrote. “I don’t have plans for any major M&A while we focus on this.”
The asset sales form part of a broader capital allocation strategy that includes an aggressive share buyback programme running at an annualised rate of roughly $5-billion. Bloisi said the buybacks are funded in equal measure by proceeds from the group’s stake in Chinese technology giant Tencent and from Prosus’s own cash reserves, and are designed to increase per-share exposure to both Tencent and the rest of the portfolio.
Prosus has been on a sustained drive to narrow the longstanding discount between its share price and the value of its underlying assets – a gap that has frustrated shareholders for years. The combination of asset disposals and buybacks is central to that effort.
‘Uncertainty’
Bloisi struck a confident tone despite what he described as “significant global uncertainty” heading into 2026, arguing that the environment reinforces Prosus’s strategy of identifying winners in India, Europe and Latin America.
He said the group is on track to deliver more than $7.3-billion in revenue and more than $1.1-billion in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in its 2026 financial year – a sharp turnaround from losses of nearly $200-million just three years ago.
The letter highlighted progress across three recent acquisitions:
- Latin American online travel platform Despegar grew revenue by more than 30% year on year in January in Brazil, with 12% of sales now coming directly from the Prosus ecosystem via food delivery platform iFood.
- European food delivery business Just Eat Takeaway, under new management, is showing early signs of accelerated growth in selected test cities, with some customer segments posting more than 20% year-on-year order growth – though Bloisi cautioned against extrapolating from the early data.
- French automotive classifieds platform La Centrale is being integrated with OLX, with growth and profitability expected to improve.
Read: Prosus inks three-year AWS deal to scale AI across its global portfolio
On the competitive front, Bloisi acknowledged fierce rivalry in food delivery, particularly in Brazil, where new entrants are subsidising heavily to win market share from iFood. He said most consumers return to the platform once subsidies end, and that Prosus is funding its competitive response within existing budget targets. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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