JSE’s most valuable company shooting the lights out

Prosus expects a surge in interim profit on the back of its growing e-commerce business and an increase in the value of the stake it owns in China’s Tencent.

Core headline earnings per share from continuing operations for the six months ended 30 September are expected to be between 20% and 29% higher than last year’s $1.44, Prosus said in a trading statement on Monday.

Prosus parent Naspers flagged a similar increase in profit. The group was an early investor in Tencent and is the Chinese company’s largest shareholder, with a stake of about 23%.

As Tencent grew, the size of the holding distorted the value of the rest of the business, pushing Naspers to split off its tech investments into Prosus.

Since then, it’s worked to grow profit of its e-commerce business, and is slowly selling down some of its Tencent holding. Shares in the Chinese tech giant have risen 52% in the year to date in dollar terms, while Prosus is up 78%. 

Prosus and Naspers will publish interim results on 24 November.