Prosus, the Dutch-based technology investor controlled by South Africa’s Naspers, on Monday reported a 20% fall in its core headline earnings, a non-standard measure, for its financial year and also announced a major share repurchasing programme.
The company plans to release its profit and loss figures later in the day.
The core headline earnings of the financial year ended 31 March came in at US$3.7-billion, compared to $4.9-billion reported a year ago.
“The macroeconomic and severe geopolitical challenges in the second half of the year have presented significant headwinds,” chief financial officer Basil Sgourdos said in a statement.
Prosus and Naspers said they were launching an open-ended share repurchasing programme, under which they would sell down the massive 28.9% stake Prosus holds in Chinese software giant Tencent, owner of WeChat, worth more than $100-billion.
They also announced the sale of a stake in Chinese e-commerce company JD.com, which had been distributed to owners of Tencent, raising proceeds $3.7-billion.
The core headline figures were in line with indications the company had given in a 15 June trading statement saying it expected underlying profit to fall by 14% to 21% due to higher investment costs in the e-commerce companies it operates and lower dividends from investments such as Tencent. — (c) 2022 Reuters
