The first six months of the financial year were highly successful for the Group. Naspers accelerates growth with operations achieving topline growth of 24%. Consolidated e-commerce revenue reached US$3.3 billion during this period. Importantly, e-commerce adjusted EBIT increased fivefold to US$169 million.
Recently, Naspers celebrated the listing of Swiggy, valued at US$11.3 billion. Additionally, the Group sold over US$2 billion of assets. This included part of their Swiggy stake and their Trip.com position.
Notably, Naspers’ share buyback has created US$36 billion in value since its launch. With 12% NAV per share accretion, it is the largest globally among tech companies by market capitalisation.
Furthermore, Naspers is actively exploring immense opportunities in Artificial Intelligence (AI). This strategy aims to serve their more than 2 billion customers while accelerating growth and profitability. Naspers remains confident in the significant impact and value AI will deliver.
Innovation and reinvention are in our DNA and essential to our success. We are embracing the massive opportunity we see in deploying AI to deliver exceptional products and services to our 2 billion customers. Our future growth will be driven by our AI-first mindset and disciplined investment into building world-class marketplaces, combined with greater collaboration across the ecosystem and our ability to build a winning culture. We are already showing signs of success, with peer-leading growth and rising profitability across our E-commerce portfolio. AI is transforming the way we work and how we serve our customers. We have data from billions of transactions across our portfolio that allow us to train AI models to personalise the customer experience and better predict their needs. This is a competitive advantage of our technology ecosystems. I am excited about the huge potential for Naspers – our journey to the next US$100 billion of value is well under way.
– Fabricio Bloisi, Group CEO
In the past six months, we’ve made substantial progress delivering on our strategy. Our Group is profitable after corporate costs, and our ongoing share buyback programme continues to create meaningful shareholder value. With Swiggy’s recent IPO, and by actively managing our portfolio through equity stake sales, we’ve highlighted significant pools of value, and we’re confident there’s even more ahead. With our strong and liquid balance sheet, we plan to grow and leverage our ecosystem, with an eye on the next wave of opportunity. We believe the combination of stronger-performing operating businesses, value creating M&A, and our open-ended share-repurchase programme will continue to drive shareholder returns.
– Ervin Tu, President and CIO, Prosus and Naspers
Directorate change
After 29 years of exemplary service, Basil Sgourdos will retire as Group Chief Financial Officer on 30 November 2024. Nico Marais will take on the role of Interim Chief Financial Officer for both Naspers and Prosus. Meanwhile, the process to finalise the permanent Group Chief Financial Officer has commenced. The market will be updated on this decision in due course.
Additionally, the board has nominated Mrs Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa for appointment as an executive director of Prosus. Her nomination will be considered at the next annual general meeting. Currently, Mrs Mahanyele-Dabengwa serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Naspers South Africa.
In addition to her role, she is an independent nonexecutive director at Vodacom and Discovery Insure. Furthermore, she serves on the United Nations Global Compact SA board and the BRICS council. Effective 1 April 2025, she is expected to join Naspers Limited as an executive director.
Group performance
We saw encouraging developments in South Africa’s operating environment in the first half of this financial year, creating a more favourable backdrop for growth. Our South African businesses performed positively over the period and we expect them to accelerate their performance, through our strategy of driving innovation and adopting an AI-first mindset. We are also excited about delivering even greater value to consumers, offering them enhanced convenience and seamless experiences through our platform businesses. As digital platforms increasingly drive economic growth around the world, Naspers is proud to champion the digital platform economy in South Africa as a catalyst for economic development, innovation, and job creation.
– Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, South Africa CEO, Naspers
Peer-leading growth and accelerating profitability across e-commerce portfolio Food Delivery: iFood reaches 100 million order milestone, achieves record profit and drives innovation and ecosystem expansion, and Swiggy’s IPO delivers gain of US$2 billion.
- iFood delivered strong top line growth, with Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) up 32%, orders up 29% and revenue increasing 30%.
- iFood’s core restaurant business grew aEBIT by 85% to US$148 million, improving aEBIT margin to 26%.
- Extensions grew revenue by 30%, driven by strong performance in groceries marketplace and credit businesses.
- Overall, iFood achieved a record profit, with aEBIT of US$98 million, up 387%.
- Delivery Hero grew GMV by 6% for the six months ended 30 June 2024, with revenue up 19%, boosting profitability to an adjusted EBITDA of €241 million (up from €9 million in 1H23).
- Swiggy grew Gross Order Value (GOV) by 24%, while adjusted EBITDA losses reduced to US$85 million.
- Swiggy listed on Indian exchanges in November, with a valuation of US$11.3 billion, and
- a gain of US$2 billion on total investment.
Classifieds – OLX Group: Strong performance, with continued growth and expanding margins
- Classifieds consolidated revenue grew 20%, with standout performances by OLX Europe motors and real estate verticals.
- Motors and real estate verticals grew revenue 26% and 27% respectively, reflecting new pricing strategies, improved monetisation and higher adoption of value-added services.
- In South Africa, Property24 and AutoTrader delivered revenue of US$26 million, up 9% and sustained levels of profitability in a challenging market.
- Overall, aEBIT increased by 42% to US$133 million, with aEBIT margin up 6pp, to 33%.
Payments & Fintech – PayU: Strong overall performance, with significant revenue growth and improving margins
- Consolidated revenue grew 45% to US$636 million, with significant contributions from Iyzico, GPO and Indian credit.
- Indian payments Total Payment Volume (TPV) increased by 27%, and revenues by 14%, while aEBIT loss of US$12 million reflected lower take rates.
- Indian credit grew its loan book by 63%, revenues by 93% and improved its aEBIT margin by 12pp, delivering an aEBIT loss of US$12 million.
- Iyzico grew revenues 151% to US$120 million, while aEBIT of US$7 million was impacted by lower gross margins and higher costs.
- GPO revenues up 32% to US$175 million, with aEBIT of US$12 million; sale of GPO ongoing, with completion due in FY25.
- Overall, aEBIT losses improved by 95% to US$11 million, reflecting continued investment in PayU India.
Etail: Continued growth at Takealot Group and eMAG on track for overall profitability for FY25
- eMAG delivered strong growth with GMV up 16%, and revenue up 19% to US$1.1 billion.
- eMAG aEBIT improved by US$15 million to a loss of US$7 million; includes US$10 million restructuring costs in Hungary.
- Takealot Group continues to strengthen its market position in general merchandise, achieving an 11% increase in GMV and 7% growth in revenue.
- Takealot.com: GMV grew 10% and revenue up 7%.
- Mr. D: Revenue up by 8%, groceries GMV surged by 109%, overall GMV growth at 13%, while aEBIT grew to US$2 million.
- Sale of Superbalist to a consortium of local private and retail industry investors.
Edtech: Improving performance, with a focus on profitability
- Consolidated revenue grew 20% to US$85 million, while trading losses reduced by US$53 million to a loss of US$13 million.
- Stack Overflow revenues up 21% to $57 million and aEBIT loss narrowed to US$7 million, driven by new API offer.
- GoodHabitz grew revenue by 17%, with an aEBIT loss of US$2 million.
Media24: ongoing transition of news operations in an increasingly digital media landscape
- The Competition Commission in South Africa approved the sale of Media24 logistics business and community newspaper portfolio to Novus Holdings on 30 October 2024.
- Continued investment in premium content to enhance reader engagement.
Interim Results Announcement
