Naspers Limited (JSE:NPN) Today Announced Its Results for the Six Months Ended 30 September 2014
November 25 2014 - 12:06AM
Business Wire
SOLID PROGRESS IN ECOMMERCE AND
PAY-TV
Naspers today announced financial results for the six months
ended 30 September 2014. Revenues measured on an economic interest
basis, including the proportionate contribution from associates and
joint ventures, expanded 30% year on year (YoY). With the group’s
ecommerce and internet businesses growing ahead of pay-television
and print, 72% of group revenues are now earned offshore.
Core headline earnings grew 24% to R6,1bn, despite expensing
R4,4bn in the continued development of the group’s ecommerce and
pay-television platforms. “We are pleased with our progress to
date,” said Naspers chair Ton Vosloo. “Execution capacity and
operations are strengthening throughout the group and the focus is
on customer satisfaction, engagement and retention.”
Boosted by accelerating revenue growth in many etail businesses,
internet remained the fastest-growing segment and accounted for 58%
of total group revenues. ”We are seeing meaningful increases in
organic traffic in our markets as we deliver compelling customer
propositions and scale our platforms,” said CEO Bob van Dijk.
Organic growth resulted in Naspers’s ecommerce revenues increasing
43% YoY to R12,1bn. This segment reported a trading loss of R2,4bn
after incurring development spend of R3,6bn.
The group’s classifieds efforts are focused on about 40
countries globally and after recent brand migrations, the majority
of classifieds sites now operate under the OLX banner. Naspers
recently strengthened its position in this segment through an
agreement with Schibsted to jointly develop select markets in Latin
America and South East Asia, subject to EU approval. Competition
remains aggressive, but the group has outgrown its competitors on
the measures that matter most, particularly in mobile.
In pay-television, solid subscriber growth of 342 000 households
drove revenues up 18% to R20,2bn. The business covers 50 countries
on the African continent and provides services to over 8,4m homes.
Trading profit increased 11% to R5bn, after expensing R642m of
investment in DTT and online video initiatives. The personal video
recorder (PVR) base expanded to 1,2m subscribers and customers are
now renting some 600 000 movies per month on BoxOffice, a service
that will soon be expanded into sub-Saharan Africa. Analogue
switch-offs, once implemented, should provide future momentum for
subscriber growth on the DTT platform.
The print media segment continues to face tough trading
conditions and structural changes to the industry. Overall revenues
grew slightly, but margins contracted further due to accelerated
investments in digital solutions and new growth areas to diversify
the revenue base.
Naspers’s share of core headline earnings from associates,
including Tencent in China and Mail.ru Group in Russia, increased
by 43% to R6,4bn. This was mainly due to continued strong
performance by Tencent, including benefits from its transaction
with JD.com.
“The second half of the year is traditionally the most active
part of the year for most of our businesses. We expect some pick-up
in spend as we capitalise on the holiday season, which could result
in lower core headline earnings for that period,” cautioned CFO,
Basil Sgourdos. “Our goal remains to develop online classifieds,
etail and DTT to deliver future growth and create value over time,”
he added.
The complete results are available on the Naspers website at
http://www.naspers.com.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
This media release contains forward-looking statements as
defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. Words such as “believe”, “anticipate”, “intend”,
“seek”, “will”, “plan”, “could”, “may”, “endeavour” and similar
expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking
statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such
statements. While these forward-looking statements represent our
judgements and future expectations, a number of risks,
uncertainties and other important factors could cause actual
developments and results to differ materially from our
expectations. These include numerous factors that could adversely
affect our businesses and financial performance. We are not under
any obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to)
update or alter our forward-looking statements whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise. Investors are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking
statements contained herein.
NaspersMeloy Horn, Head of Investor RelationsTel:
+27 11 289 3320+27 11 289 4446Mobile: +27 82 772 7123orBasil
Sgourdos, Chief Financial OfficerTel: +852 2847 3365Mobile:
+852 9080 5155
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