Johannesburg - Media and internet firm Naspers [JSE:NPN] posted an expected 20% jump in annual profit on Tuesday, boosted by strong performance in its internet businesses and a weaker rand currency.
The company, which has stakes in internet firms such as China's Tencent and Russia's Mail.ru, said core headline earnings per share increased to 2 216 cents from 1 850c last year.
Naspers had said earnings for the year to end-March would rise by as much as 25%.
The company considers core headline earnings, which exclude some one-time items, as its main measure of profit.
Naspers' revenue grew 27% to R50.25bn and it declared a 385c per share dividend, from 335c last year.
Naspers has been spending heavily on acquisitions of e-commerce companies, particularly in eastern Europe. Naspers said it paid R1.8bn in cash for a 79% stake in Netretail, an online retailer with operations in Czech Republic and Poland.
The company, which started out as an Afrikaans newspaper publisher nearly a century ago, said it was cutting costs in its print media operations in Brazil.
Its shares have gained 25% so far this year, compared to a 2.8% decline by the Top-40 index.
* Fin24 is part of Media24, a subsidiary of Naspers.
The company, which has stakes in internet firms such as China's Tencent and Russia's Mail.ru, said core headline earnings per share increased to 2 216 cents from 1 850c last year.
Naspers had said earnings for the year to end-March would rise by as much as 25%.
The company considers core headline earnings, which exclude some one-time items, as its main measure of profit.
Naspers' revenue grew 27% to R50.25bn and it declared a 385c per share dividend, from 335c last year.
Naspers has been spending heavily on acquisitions of e-commerce companies, particularly in eastern Europe. Naspers said it paid R1.8bn in cash for a 79% stake in Netretail, an online retailer with operations in Czech Republic and Poland.
The company, which started out as an Afrikaans newspaper publisher nearly a century ago, said it was cutting costs in its print media operations in Brazil.
Its shares have gained 25% so far this year, compared to a 2.8% decline by the Top-40 index.
* Fin24 is part of Media24, a subsidiary of Naspers.