Naspers has pierced the R3 000/share barrier for the first time, trading briefly at R3 001/share on Wednesday afternoon on continued optimism over China’s Tencent, in which it holds a 33.2% stake.
The JSE-listed technology and media group, whose other assets include pay-television broadcaster MultiChoice, has a market capitalisation of R1.3 trillion.
Since the beginning of the year, Naspers — despite its size — has added 49% to its share price. Over five years, it has appreciated by 504.5% and over 10 years by 1 758%.
An investment of R100 000 in Naspers a decade ago would now be worth almost R1.8m.
The milestone for Naspers comes as pressure mounts over its executive pay policies.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that Naspers shareholder Allan Gray plans to vote against the group’s remuneration policy because it isn’t aligned to the performance of the media and Internet business outside the stake in Tencent.
CEO pay
The news wire reported that Naspers paid CEO Bob van Dijk US$2.2m in the year to March, an increase of 32%, and awarded him $10.4m in long-term share options. That corresponded with a period in which the Cape Town-based company reported a trading profit of $2.75bn — or a loss of $379m when Tencent is stripped out.
The pay plan “is not aligned with shareholders’ interests, the disclosure is poor, and the performance targets appear to be very easy to achieve”, Pieter Koornhof, investment analyst at Allan Gray, said in e-mailed comments. “On top of that, they are now also proposing to shorten the vesting periods for the long-term incentives.”
Allan Gray owns about 2.3% of Naspers. — (c) 2017 NewsCentral Media