Johannesburg - South African e-commerce and media group Naspers recorded a 16 percent growth in first-half earnings on Tuesday following strong revenue growth by its Internet business.
The sprawling media group, with holdings in emerging market e-commerce companies including a stake in Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings, said core headline earnings came in at 1,248 cents per share.
Naspers flagged earlier this month that core headline earnings, which the company considers to be the appropriate measure of performance, would gain by as much as 20 percent.
The company has morphed over a century from being an Afrikaans-language newspaper to providing pay-TV across Africa and owning stakes in online retailers and gaming companies in countries such as Russia and India.
Revenue from Internet platforms expanded by 76 percent to R24.9 billion and those in the pay-TV division were 18 percent higher at R17.1 billion.
Naspers said it would ramp up development expenditure by more than 62 percent this year to at least R7 billion to build e-commerce platforms and roll out digital terrestrial television across many African cities.
“We caution, though, that over the next six months, an acceleration of investment into growth areas will lower earnings,” the company said in a securities filing.
Naspers' share price has gained nearly 80 percent to R972 this year, making it the most valuable local company on the Johannesburg bourse. - Reuters