Naspers delivers strong ecommerce revenue growth and operating performance

Cape Town, 23 November 2022 ¨C Naspers Limited (JSE: NPN) has announced  a solid set of results for the first half of the year. Despite a turbulent period during which industry growth expectations and valuations came under significant pressure, we have increased ecommerce revenues and continued organic investment into those segments where we see the highest growth potential. This investment is focused on building and extending our offering within core products to meet local market needs, notably within autos at OLX, convenience delivery in Food and credit at PayU. Organic investment levels peaked during the period, and together with increased scale and actively managing our cost base, our business is well positioned for improvements in profitability and cash flow generation. It is our ambition for our consolidated ecommerce portfolio to become profitable in H1 of FY2025. Our buyback programme will continue for the foreseeable future, as it meaningfully improves net asset value (NAV) per share, creating permanent value that will compound over time.

Headlines¹

• Ecommerce revenue up 38%, driven by a strong operating performance across all four core segments
• Group revenue up 9% to US$17bn
• Group trading profit declined by 38% to US$1.4bn reflecting a lower contribution from Tencent and investment in ecommerce extensions; Core headline earnings down 51% to US$372m
• Focused organic investment in high potential businesses within our core segments; HY23 reflects peak investment spend
• Open-ended buyback has unlocked permanent value for shareholders, with US$5.8bn of Prosus and Naspers shares repurchased
• Significant steps taken to drive profitability within core segments, with ecommerce portfolio on track to reach profitability within two years
• Strong and liquid balance sheet a strategic advantage in the current climate; US$16.0bn gross cash and US$760m net cash
• Tencent announced on 16 November 2022, that it will distribute Meituan shares to its shareholders next year. Upon receipt of the shares, we will consider them as held for sale.

Bob van Dijk, Group CEO, Prosus and Naspers, commented:

¡°We have shown strong execution and operational growth through a volatile and challenging time. To further scale our ecommerce businesses, we have made significant organic investment in OLX Autos, credit, convenience delivery and edtech, which will drive sustainable long-term value creation for the Group. The Group¡¯s open-ended buyback of Prosus and Naspers shares is unlocking real value. We expect the benefits of the programme to compound over time. Looking ahead, we will work towards simplifying the Group¡¯s structure and to crystallise value from our portfolio.¡±

Group performance[1] [2]

Basil Sgourdos, Group CFO, Prosus and Naspers, commented:

¡°Revenue grew strongly across our segments, despite the significant foreign currency headwinds in emerging markets and a lower contribution from Tencent. Our ecommerce businesses are all profitable or breakeven at the core and we have accelerated efforts to drive profitable growth. We expect HY23 to mark our peak investment spend, with profitability and cash flow generation improving from here on, with our ambition to be profitable on aggregate in H1 FY2025. Our strong balance sheet and significant liquidity is a key advantage in the current climate; we will remain disciplined on M&A and committed to maintaining our investment grade rating.¡±

Strong growth and execution in ecommerce

Ecommerce revenues, on an economic interest basis, grew 38% to US$5.6bn, driven by strong top-line growth across all four core segments. Trading losses, reported on the same basis, expanded to US$1.0bn. On a consolidated basis, ecommerce revenue grew 30%, to US$3.6bn, while trading losses widened to US$462m. The cash needs of our business are only in relation to our consolidated businesses, and the losses of our associates are prefunded and do not impact our cash position.

Profitability was impacted by continued investment in adjacent growth opportunities: autos transactions in Classifieds, a broader on-demand grocery delivery ecosystem in iFood, credit in Payments and Fintech, and the expansion of our Edtech segment.

Our core Classifieds business, as well as iFood¡¯s restaurant delivery business in Brazil, remain profitable.

We expect HY23 to represent the high water mark in terms of trading losses, with profitability improving materially from this point on, as the benefits of our investment programme and cost reduction initiatives take hold.

A detailed breakdown of the Net Asset Value of the Prosus portfolio, based on market consensus estimates, is on the Prosus website here. 

Classifieds ¨C OLX Group[3]

OLX had a strong start to the year, with revenues on an economic interest basis growing 60% to US$1.34bn. Trading losses increased to US$159m, reflecting significant investment to scale OLX Autos. Consolidated revenues grew 64% to US$1.22bn, while consolidated trading losses increased to US$154m.

Operational metrics across the core classifieds business remained stable, with 89m active listings, 80m monthly active app users and 2.1m paying listers.

OLX has focused efforts on improving productivity, efficiencies and on cutting costs to ensure a sustainable long-term business. Excluding OLX Ukraine, this has resulted in an 9 percentage point improvement in trading profit margin in core classifieds to 27%.  

OLX Autos revenues grew by 84%, to US$1.0bn, as demand and prices for used cars remained high across several markets. Trading losses increased to US$206m driven by investment to expand our direct-to-consumer business. OLX Autos sold a record c.114,000 cars, up 60% on the prior period.

Food Delivery

Our portfolio of food businesses is present in more than 70 countries, with the most significant businesses being iFood, Delivery Hero and Swiggy.

The segment delivered strong growth, with a focus on improving profitability in the core restaurant businesses, coupled with controlled investment in growth extensions, such as quick commerce and groceries. On an economic interest basis, GMV grew 26%, increasing revenues by 52% to US$1.9bn.  Investment into adjacencies increased trading losses by US$69m, to US$381m.

iFood had an outstanding 6 months, as it continues to scale, and is on a defined path to profitable growth. In the core restaurant business  in Brazil, orders increased by 2% and GMV by 13%, driving revenue growth of 29%, to US$606m. Trading profit was US$45m, with a trading margin of 7%, an improvement of 8 percentage points from the prior period. Overall, iFood trading losses improved to US$59m, reflecting continued investment in quick commerce and fintech initiatives.

Within quick commerce and grocery delivery, iFood operates a hybrid model, through partnerships with existing grocery retailers, while also investing in dark stores. Orders from these new initiatives grew 152% and GMV 102%.

Delivery Hero continued to deliver strong growth for its half year ended 30 June 2022, with GMV increasing 50% to €20.0bn and an improved adjusted EBITDA margin (as percentage of GMV) of -1.6% (prior period: -2.6%).

Swiggy¡¯s core restaurant food delivery business grew GMV by 40%, while its quick commerce GMV increased 15x during the first six months of the year. Our share of Swiggy¡¯s revenue grew 118% to US$150m. 

Payments & Fintech ¨C PayU

PayU delivered good results, growing payment volumes and pursuing additional opportunities in credit and digital banking.

Total number of transactions grew 17% year-on-year, driving total payment volume (TPV) growth of 49% to US$46bn. Economic interest revenue increased 55% to US$480m, with a trading loss of US$97m. Consolidated revenue grew 57% to US$412m, on the back of growth in payments in India, Turkey and Poland, as well as scaling of the credit business in India. Consolidated trading losses expanded to US$80m, as we continued to invest in growing our credit operations in India.  

In India, our largest payments market, TPV grew 59% to US$28bn, and revenue increased 48% to US$183m, following increased digitalisation in ecommerce, financial services and bill payments, and a rebound in post pandemic travel.

The Global Payments Organisation, focused mainly in Europe and Latin America, delivered strong growth. TPV grew 38% and revenues were up 45% to US$181m.

Within PayU¡¯s fintech investment portfolio, our share of Remitly¡¯s revenue grew 46% to US$67m.

Edtech

Technology is transforming the education sector and radically increasing access to learning across the world for many millions of people. The segment showed good topline growth, with revenues on an economic interest basis increasing 38% to US$334m, while trading losses grew to US$178m, impacted by one-off adjustments related to BYJU¡¯s, Udemy and Skillsoft.

Wholly-owned Stack Overflow, a leading knowledge-sharing platform, delivered solid progress, with total bookings increasing by 53% in the period. Revenue grew organically by 33% to US$45m, driven by Stack Overflow for Teams, which enables organisatons to build their own internal communities on top of the open platform. By the end of the period, Stack Overflow for Teams had 1,262 paying teams, generating an annual recurring revenue of US$50m.

Our Edtech portfolio consists of 11 investments, covering the full span of learning from kindergarten through to grade 12 (K?12), and beyond, into third- and enterprise-level education.

South African businesses

Takealot

The Takealot Group, comprising Takealot.com, Mr D Food, and Superbalist, grew GMV by 15% and revenue by 13%, with a trading loss of US$13m. Superbalist and Mr D Food grew GMV by 15% and 13% respectively. 

Naspers Foundry

Since its launch in 2019, Naspers Foundry has invested nearly R700 million and has 10  high-potential tech portfolio companies in fintech, marketplaces, mobility, edtech and agritech. All are South Africa-focused companies that are leveraging technology to improve the everyday lives of ordinary South Africans.

In May 2022, Naspers Foundry invested R40m in Nile, a b2b marketplace connecting farmers to buyers of fresh produce and helping to make quality food accessible to people across Southern Africa. Naspers Foundry also built its growing fintech portfolio in the period, investing R40m in LifeCheq, a fintech platform driving financial inclusion by democratising access to financial advice.

Naspers Labs

Naspers Labs is a social impact programme that aims to address youth unemployment in South Africa by helping young people gain in-demand digital skills and work readiness training, along with job exposure and job matching. Naspers Labs¡¯ mission is to help young people access decent job opportunities and to support self-sustained micro businesses. Since June 2021, Naspers Labs has trained 2 684 young people, placed 1 772 young people in entry level jobs in the tech sector and supported 31 micro entrepreneurs. In doing so, Labs is addressing the skills and educational needs that South Africa¡¯s youth require to become productive participants as the economy becomes more digitally driven.

Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, South Africa CEO, Naspers, commented:

¡°We remain resolute in our belief that technology will be central to driving inclusive economic growth in South Africa and beyond. During the first half of this year, Naspers has continued to play a key part in stimulating the country¡¯s local tech sector through  Naspers Foundry and preparing young people for a increasingly digital workplace through our youth development programme, Naspers Labs.¡±

Our impact

Naspers is building a portfolio of asset-light, low carbon business models that enable us to combine our global reach with specialist and local expertise. Its businesses deliver positive impact for society and the planet by using technology to improve everyday life for billions of people. Examples include enabling a wider systemic transition to the circular economy, broader financial inclusion, improved access to education, and facilitating livelihoods.

In line with our commitment towards a decarbonised world, Naspers has recently signed ¡®The Climate Pledge¡¯, a commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 ¨C 10 years ahead of the goal set out in the United Nations¡¯ Paris Climate Agreement. Prosus has also joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), a global collaboration between investors and financial institutions to help standardise frameworks for climate accounting and target setting.

Earlier this year, we committed US$10m to support humanitarian aid efforts in Ukraine. Since then, we have deployed around US$8m of the total, to projects providing specialised medical equipment, mobile medical centres and modular houses.

Through technology investments, we are able to encourage entrepreneurs focused on solutions to help others. Now in its third year, the Prosus Social Impact Challenge for Accessibility (SICA) provides an annual grant and mentorship to Indian start-ups with the most innovative and promising solutions in the assistive technology space. The top five startups, to be announced in December, will have access to a pool of mentors and financing opportunities through SICA partners including Invest India and Social Alpha, as well as the World Health Organization.

For full details of the Group¡¯s results, please visit www.naspers.com .

---ENDS---

[1] Group results shown on economic-interest basis from continuing operations (i.e., including a proportionate consolidation of the contribution from associates and joint ventures), unless stated otherwise. All growth percentages shown in this media release are shown in local currency terms, adjusted for acquisitions and disposals.

[2] To reconcile revenue on an economic interest basis, with total consolidated revenue, see note 5, on page 26 of the Naspers summarised consolidated interim financial statements for the six months ended 30 September 2022.

[3] In May 2022, the group announced an intention to exit Avito.  The disposal of Avito was concluded in October 2022. Avito is now treated as a discontinued operation in the financial results.