11 Jun 2024
Trading statement
Naspers Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1925/001431/06)
JSE share code: NPN ISIN: ZAE000325783
(Naspers)
Trading statement
Shareholders are advised that the Naspers group (“the Group”) is finalising its financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024.
During the year our ecommerce businesses delivered peer leading growth and accelerated profitability. We are on track to fulfil our promises of consolidated ecommerce profitability and cash flow generation. These factors, combined with improved profitability from our investments, and the continuation of the share repurchase programme, supported meaningful growth in core headline earnings per share.
Core headline earnings per share and headline earnings per share for the year are expected to increase driven by improved profitability of our ecommerce consolidated businesses and equity-accounted investments, in particular Tencent, and an increase in our net interest income.
Earnings per share is expected to be negatively impacted, driven by a lower gain from a smaller sale of our Tencent shareholding this year compared to last year. In addition, earnings from the Group’s equity-accounted investments decreased, primarily due to the lower gains on acquisitions and disposals within Tencent relative to the previous year.
The gains relating to the sell down of Tencent and impairment charges impacting earnings per share are excluded from headline and core headline earnings per share. The board considers core headline earnings an appropriate indicator of the operating performance of the Group, as it adjusts for non-operational items.
The Group has illustrated below the anticipated changes in earnings, headline earnings and core headline earnings per share for continuing operations and total operations for the year ended 31 March 2024 as compared to the restated 31 March 2023 operations. Prior period numbers have been adjusted to reflect the impact of the exit of the OLX Autos businesses (Details discussed later in the statement):
| Continuing operations | Restated 31 March 2023 US cents | 31 March 2024 Expected(decrease)/ increase US cents | Expected (decrease)/increase % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earnings per share(1) | 2 014 | (491-345) | (24.38%-17.13%) |
| Headline earnings per share(1) | 143 | 645-653 | 451.05%-456.64% |
| Core headline earnings* per share(1) | 546 | 584-619 | 107.00%-113.40% |
| Total operations | 31 March 2023 US cents | 31 March 2024 Expected(decrease)/ increase US cents | Expected (decrease)/increase % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earnings per share(1) | 2 078 | (555-409) | (26.70%-19.70%) |
| Headline earnings per share(1) | 119 | 669-677 | 562.18%-568.91% |
| Core headline earnings* per share(1) | 503 | 627-662 | 124.70%-131.61% |
The Group has restated the 31 March 2023 published information following OLX Autos classification as Discontinued operations.
We have made meaningful progress in exiting our OLX Autos businesses. All of our OLX Autos operations that have been disposed of, classified as held for sale or closed down by 31 March 2024 are presented as discontinued operations.
Prior period published earnings have been adjusted as follows:
| 31 March 2023 | Published US$’m | Restated US$’m |
|---|---|---|
| Earnings from total operations | 4 331 | 4 331 |
| Earnings from continuing operations | 4102 | 4 198 |
| Earnings from discontinuing operations | 229 | 133 |
Consequent to the classification of OLX Autos to discontinued operations, the per share information from continuing operations for 31 March 2023 has been restated as follows:
| 31 March 2023 – continuing operations | Published US cents | Restated US cents |
|---|---|---|
| Earnings per N share | 1 968 | 2 014 |
| Headline earnings per N share | 119 | 143 |
| Core headline earnings per N share | 507 | 546 |
The successful removal of the cross-holding between Naspers and Prosus, was concluded in September 2023. The removal of the cross-holding does not have an impact on the Naspers weighted average number of shares because the shares held by Prosus were treated as treasury shares and excluded from the average number of shares. In addition, as a result of the capitalisation and share consolidation, Naspers free-float shareholders hold the same number of shares as they did before the transaction.
More details will be published with the financial statements on Monday, 24 June 2024.
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.
Core headline earnings per share constitute pro-forma financial information in terms of the JSE Limited Listings Requirements. The pro forma financial information is the responsibility of the Group's directors.
- Per share information is based on the net number of A and N ordinary shares in issue during the respective periods.
11 June 2024
40 Heerengracht, Cape Town 8001 PO Box 2271 Cape Town 8000 South Africa
Sponsor: Investec Bank Limited
About Naspers
Established in 1915, Naspers has transformed itself to become a global consumer internet company and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Through Prosus, the group operates and invests globally in markets with long-term growth potential, building leading consumer internet companies that empower people and enrich communities. Prosus has its primary listing on Euronext Amsterdam, and a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Naspers is the majority owner of Prosus.
In South Africa, Naspers is one of the foremost investors in the technology sector and is committed to building its internet and ecommerce companies. These include Takealot, Mr D Food, Superbalist, Autotrader, Property24 and PayU, in addition to Media24, South Africa’s leading print and digital media business.
Naspers has a primary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (NPN.SJ) and a secondary listing on the A2X Exchange (NPN.AJ) in South Africa and a level 1 American Depository Receipt (ADR) programme which trades on an over-the-counter basis in the US.
For more information, please visit www.naspers.com.
Naspers Labs
In 2019, Naspers Labs, a youth development programme designed to transform and launch South Africa’s unemployed youth into economic activity, was launched. Naspers Labs focuses on digital skills and training, enabling young people to pursue tech careers.
Disclaimer
The Repurchase Programme is being conducted in accordance with Articles 5(1) and 5(3) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (“Market Abuse Regulation”) and Articles 2 to 4 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 supplementing the Market Abuse Regulation with regard to regulatory technical standards for the conditions applicable to buy-back programmes and stabilisation measures (the “Delegated Regulation”). This document is issued in connection with the disclosure and reporting obligation set out in Article 2(1) of the Delegated Regulation.
This document contains information that qualifies as inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the Market Abuse Regulation.
This announcement does not constitute, or form part of, an offer or any solicitation of an offer for securities in any jurisdiction.
The information contained in this announcement may contain forward-looking statements, estimates and projections. Forward-looking statements involve all matters that are not historical and may be identified by the words “anticipate”, ”believe”, ”estimate”, ”expect”, ”intend”, ”may”, ”should”, ”will”, ”would” and similar expressions or their negatives, but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These statements reflect Prosus’s intentions, beliefs or current expectations, involve elements of subjective judgement and analysis and are based upon the best judgement of Prosus as of the date of this announcement, but could prove to be wrong. These statements are subject to change without notice and are based on a number of assumptions and entail known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Therefore, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results.
Any forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this announcement and neither Prosus nor any other person gives any undertaking, or is under any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements for events or circumstances that occur subsequent to the date of this announcement or to update or keep current any of the information contained herein, any changes in assumptions or changes in factors affecting these statements and this announcement is not a representation by Prosus or any other person that they will do so, except to the extent required by law.