Naspers sees 50% fall in earnings

Johannesburg - Media company Naspers [JSE:NPN] said on Thursday it expects earnings to fall by up to half from the previous year, when its results were boosted by profits from the sale of a Greek unit.

The profit warning comes as the market had been looking for stronger growth from Africa's largest media company.

Unlike many media firms, which have been battered by the decline in traditional advertising revenue, Naspers has been helped by diverse operations in fast-growing markets such as Russia, Brazil and Asia.

It owns about 30% of Tencent Holdings, China's biggest Internet company, which last month reported another quarter of record profit on a robust performance in its gaming business.

"We were quite bullish on the stock, specifically the earnings per share," said a Johannesburg-based analyst who declined to be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

"Even if you account for the fact that the discontinued operations weren't included this year, it's still pretty disappointing."

Naspers, which has internet, pay television and newspaper units, said it expects earnings per share for the year to end-March to be between 40% and 50% lower from the previous year.

In the prior financial year it booked a profit of 1 553c per share, helped by the sale of a Greek television unit.

The lower estimates would represent earnings of 776c/share, well below the mean estimate of 1 401c in a poll of 11 analysts by Thomson Reuters.

The company said it expects headline earnings per share for the year to be between 5% and 15% higher than the previous year's 826 cents.

Before the announcement, Naspers shares finished up 0.3% at R272.20 on Thursday, compared with a 0.4% rise in the top-40 index.

- Reuters

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