Image: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
South African media and e-commerce group Naspers on Monday reported a 4.5% drop in profit for the year to 31 March, mainly as a result of investments to drive growth in its food delivery business.
The South African-based media powerhouse, with businesses spread across Brazil, China, India, Russia and Europe, said its revenues for the full year jumped 17% to $22.1-billion, driven mainly by its food delivery and classifieds segments.
Group businesses are likely to benefit from a further acceleration of the underlying trend toward online (due to Covid-19)
Its food delivery orders rose 102% and revenues by 99%, while the classifieds business grew by almost half, the company said in a statement.
“Group businesses are likely to benefit from a further acceleration of the underlying trend toward online (due to Covid-19),” CEO Bob van Dijk said in a statement.
The company, which owns almost a third of Chinese Internet giant Tencent, offloaded some of its more valuable e-commerce businesses into a separate entity, Prosus, last year and listed it on Euronext in Amsterdam.
