By Toby Sterling
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Prosus NV, a large technology investor, said on Wednesday its core headline earnings increased 118% in the first half of 2024, citing improved profitability in its stable of e-commerce investments.
"After years of investment and growth, our businesses are now at scale and demonstrate improving profitability," the company said in a statement, saying it now expects these investments to reach profitability in its current financial year, six months earlier than expected.
Core headline earnings for the half year ended on Sept. 30 were $2.0 billion, from $1.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, in line with a Nov. 20 trading statement. The company said that would be a 118% increase if comparing like-for-like, adjusting for currency fluctuations and business disposals.
Core headlines earnings is a nonstandard measure the company says best reflects its group operating performance.
It includes the massive stake Prosus (OTC:PROSF) owns in China's Tencent, which the company said has been sold down from 26.2% to 25% to fund a rolling share buyback program.
Prosus says share buybacks benefit shareholders because the Tencent stake, now worth $98 billion, is worth about 30% more than Prosus itself.
Among the other e-commerce companies the company owns and operates, revenue grew 13% to $2.6 billion, Prosus said, while trading improved to a loss of $36 million, shrinking from a loss of $256 million in the same period a year earlier.