The incentives of executive directors in Naspers Ltd will be linked to the performance of the company and a share exchange programme with subsidiary Prosus will not alter that, the company said on Thursday.
FILE PHOTO: Naspers logo is seen in Johannesburg, South Africa, October 9, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe SibekoJOHANNESBURG: The incentives of executive directors in Naspers Ltd will be linked to the performance of the company and a share exchange programme with subsidiary Prosus will not alter that, the company said on Thursday.
Last month, Naspers and Prosus had announced a share exchange programme under which Prosus, listed on Euronext in Amsterdam, would issue new shares to buy up to 45.4per cent of its parent Naspers' shares listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange .
However, analysts and shareholders have argued that a vast cross holding will not help in reducing the steep discount and could potentially take away the board's incentive to work towards the interest of Naspers shareholders."Basil and I actually have most of our financial health, our long term financial health, tied up in Naspers share options. And we promised our shareholders that we will not exercise those options," he said.
In a separate statement, the company said its core headlineearnings per share - the main gauge of corporate profit in South Africa - for the period that ended March 31 is expected to increase by between 135 and 181 cents per share.