Naspers 1st Half 2020 Net Profit Fell 34% on Tough Year-Earlier Comparative

   By Adria Calatayud 
 

Naspers Ltd. (NPN.JO) said Friday that net profit fell 34% for the first half of fiscal 2020, after the prior year's result was boosted by the sale of its stake in India's Flipkart.

For the six months to Sept. 30, the South Africa-based investor--which owns a major stake in Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. (0700.HK) through its Amsterdam-listed arm Prosus NV (PRX.AE)--made a net profit of $2.27 billion compared with $3.42 billion a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations declined to $5.09 from $7.65.

Naspers had earlier this week warned that its earnings would drop due to a tough year-earlier comparative figure, as it booked a $1.6 billion gain last year on the disposal of its 12% stake in Flipkart to Walmart Inc. (WMT) for $2.2 billion.

Core headline EPS--the company's preferred earnings metric, which excludes non-operational items--from continuing operations rose to $3.72 from $3.46, Naspers said.

Revenue for the first half grew to $1.73 billion from $1.52 billion a year earlier.

The company said it will focus on driving profitability in more established areas such as the classified markets and its payment-services-provider unite while investing in food delivery.

Write to Adria Calatayud at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 22, 2019 08:31 ET (13:31 GMT)

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