Regulatory news

Naspers Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Reg. No 1925/001431/06)
JSE Share Code: NPN           
ISIN: ZAE000015889
LSE ADS Code: NPSN            
 ISIN: US6315122092
(“Naspers”)

Trading statement

Shareholders are advised that the Naspers group (“the Group”) is finalising its condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the period ended 30 September 2022.

For the six months to September 2022 our ecommerce businesses maintained strong top-line growth momentum with growth coming from the core of our businesses and from our expansion into adjacent opportunities within each core segment. Core headline earnings per share, an important measure of operating performance, declined due to investment in adjacent opportunities in ecommerce, lower contributions from associates and Tencent.  During the period, growth expectations and valuations came under significant pressure as consumers adapted to the realities of higher inflation and interest rates on their daily lives and spending power. The Group has taken action to meet these challenges and will take further action to continue delivering long-term value to our shareholders.

Discontinued operation

The Group announced its intention to exit its Russian classifieds business, Avito, in May 2022. We completed the disposal and received the proceeds in October 2022. Following the disposal, results of the Avito business will be presented as results from discontinued operations. Also, the prior reporting period income statement will be restated to distinguish between continuing and discontinued operations.

The Group has illustrated the anticipated changes in earnings, headline earnings and core headline earnings per share for continuing operations for the period ended 30 September 2022 as compared to 30 September 2021 for total operations (as previously reported) in the tables below:

The significant decrease in earnings per share relates to a gain of US$12.3bn realised on the sale of a 2% interest in Tencent in the prior year compared to an expected gain of only US$2.8bn on the sell down of Tencent shares in the current period to fund the open-ended share-repurchase program announced on 27 June 2022. Impairment charges and dilution losses related to investments in associates are expected to be approximately US$1.8bn higher in the current period. These are excluded from headline and core headline earnings per share.

Headline earnings is expected to decrease in the current year. This is mainly due to lower profitability across our associates, including our share of Tencent's fair value losses on financial instruments of US$372m compared to fair value gains of US$1.0bn in the prior period. Headline earnings are also impacted by our increased investment in earlier stage ecommerce extensions of autos, convenience and credit.

Shareholders are reminded that the board considers core headline earnings an appropriate indicator of the operating performance of the Group, as it adjusts for non-operational items. For reasons set out above core headline earnings per share for the current year from continuing operations is expected to decrease by between 235 and 206 cents per share (between 59.7% and 52.3%).

More details will be published with the condensed consolidated interim financial statements on Wednesday, 23 November 2022.

Financial information on which this trading statement is based has not been subject to an independent audit  or review  by the Group’s auditors.

^* Core headline earnings, a non-IFRS performance measure, represent headline earnings for the period, excluding certain non-operating items. Specifically, headline earnings are adjusted for the following items to derive core headline earnings: (i) equity-settled share-based payment expenses on transactions where there is no cash cost to us. These include those relating to share-based incentive awards settled by issuing treasury shares, as well as certain share-based payment expenses that are deemed to arise on shareholder transactions; (ii) subsequent fair-value remeasurement of cash-settled share-based incentive expenses; (iii) cash-settled share-based compensation expenses deemed to arise from shareholder transactions by virtue of employment; (iv) deferred taxation income recognised on the first-time recognition of deferred tax assets as this generally relates to multiple prior periods and distorts current period performance; (v) fair-value adjustments on financial and unrealised currency translation differences, as these items obscure our underlying operating performance; (vi) one-off gains and losses (including acquisition-related costs) resulting from acquisitions and disposals of businesses as these items relate to changes in our composition and are not reflective of our underlying operating performance and (vii) the amortisation of intangible assets recognised in business combinations and acquisitions. These adjustments are made to the earnings of businesses controlled by us, as well as our share of earnings of associates and joint ventures, to the extent that the information is available.

⁽¹⁾           Per share information is based on the net number of A and N ordinary shares in issue during the respective periods.

21 November 2022

40 Heerengracht, Cape Town 8001

PO Box 2271

Cape Town 8000

South Africa

Sponsor:

Investec Bank Limited