Naspers said on Monday it expects to report a drop in headline earnings per share of 52.6% for the six months to end September.
Together with its Amsterdam-listed subsidiary, Prosus, the companies now see significantly lower interim earnings per share as the prior period included a $1.6bn once-off gain related to the disposal of the group’s interest in Indian e-commerce business Flipkart in September 2018. Naspers said in a trading statement it expected core headline earnings per share from continuing operations to increase to between 27c and 38c per share, up Prosus, which will be reporting its first interim results this week after listing on the Euronext and JSE in September, said it expects its core headline earnings per share from continuing operations to increase between 3c and 9c per share, up about 9%.
The former MultiChoice owner said its EPS in the current period also included a gain of about $600m recognised on the disposal of the group’s interest in Indian online travel company MakeMyTrip. In addition, fair-value gains on investments held by Tencent, in which Prosus holds a 31% stake, of about $400m would likely be substantially less than the gains of $1.4bn recognised in the prior period, resulting in headline earnings per share decreasing considerably.Prosus is in a bidding war for UK-based online food delivery business Just Eat.