Naspers, Africa’s largest company by market value, said its expects earnings grew by as much as a third in the latest financial year.
Core headline earnings per share from total operations, which strip out non-operational items, are expected to have grown by between 31% and 33% in the year to 31 March, the company said in a trading statement ahead of results expected on 21 June. Naspers didn’t give a reason for the improving operating performance.
Analysts have forecast full-year core headline EPS growth of 25%, according to the average of 10 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Naspers is trying to narrow its valuation discount compared to its stake in Tencent Holdings, now worth about R1.9-trillion. Cape Town-based Naspers is the Chinese Internet giant’s largest shareholder. The company is moving most of its Internet businesses to a new listing in Amsterdam as part of that effort.
Overall earnings per share are expected to have dropped as Naspers sold fewer assets compared to the prior year. Its biggest such deal — the sale of a stake in Indian e-commerce startup Flipkart to Walmart — earned the company US$1.6-billion. — Reported by Thomas Pfeiffer, (c) 2019 Bloomberg LP
