Naspers and its Amsterdam-listed subsidiary, Prosus, have told shareholders to expect a sharp rise in core headline earnings for the year to 31 March 2026, in what the group has described as the completion of its shift from a passive technology investor into an “active operator of AI-driven lifestyle ecosystems”.

In near-identical trading statements published on Friday, ahead of full results on 29 June, the two companies guided to core headline earnings per share from continuing operations rising between 19% and 28% at Prosus and between 20.8% and 27.8% at Naspers.

Because Prosus’s results almost entirely account for Naspers’s, the JSE-listed parent issues its numbers alongside the subsidiary; the slightly different ranges reflect the two companies’ share structures rather than any divergence in performance.

The headline figures mask a wide gap between earnings measures. At Prosus, headline EPS from continuing operations is guided up 6.7% to 15.7%, while basic EPS is expected to land anywhere between a decline of 2.6% and growth of 6.4%.

This earnings pattern is the same at Naspers. The group pinned the gap on its associate Tencent: core headline earnings strip out fair-value investment losses booked in the Chinese group’s results, while bottom-line EPS was dragged down by a smaller gain on the sale of Tencent shares – fewer were sold this year – and by unrealised currency losses on translating its euro-denominated bonds into its US dollar reporting currency.

Milestone

Operationally, the group says FY2026 hit its targets: more than US$7.3-billion in revenue and $1.1-billion in “ecosystem” (formerly e-commerce) adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), with every one of its ecosystems now profitable and free cash flow excluding Tencent still growing.

The milestone caps CEO Fabricio Bloisi’s two-year drive to turn the sprawling portfolio – spanning Latin America, Europe and India – from a collection of investments into businesses the group actively runs, with AI deployed across fraud detection, recommendations, logistics and customer support.

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In May, Naspers and Prosus shares fell about 7% after the group warned it would step up investment in Brazilian food-delivery business iFood, trimming its near-term profitability. Bloisi, who has set a target of doubling Prosus’s revenue to roughly $12.5-billion by 2028, has continued to repurchase Naspers and Prosus stock at an annual run rate of about $5-billion. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media