Prosus reckons its big idea has stopped being a pitch and started being a business. The Naspers-owned technology investor, known locally for Takealot and in Latin America for food-delivery giant iFood, says its push to build everyday-life "ecosystems" spanning food, banking and travel is now delivering real profit across Latin America, India and Europe.
The numbers behind the mood
Revenue from continuing operations rose 57% to $9.7 billion, and adjusted operating earnings (the cash the businesses generate before interest and tax) jumped 84% to $1.3 billion. Core headline earnings, the group's preferred profit measure, grew 13% to $8.3 billion, and the board lifted the dividend by 40%. Management says it hit its $1.3 billion e-commerce profit target. "This is not a plan any more, it is a reality," chief executive Fabricio Bloisi told investors.
The standouts were iFood in Brazil, where revenue has accelerated to 40% growth helped by a tie-up with travel platform Despegar, and India, where payments business PayU turned a profit for the first time. Takealot's revenue rose almost a fifth to $1 billion. Bloisi argues the group now has real "moats", even as deep-pocketed rivals such as DiDi-backed 99Food and Meituan-backed Keeta pile into Brazil. He is also leaning hard on artificial intelligence, touting an in-house "commerce model" he says is ten times cheaper to run than the big US offerings.
The shadow that won't lift
Not everyone is convinced. Prosus still owns a stake in China's Tencent worth around $111 billion, more than the roughly $95 billion the whole company is valued at in Amsterdam, so Tencent's swings keep dominating reported profit. Even after returning $10 billion to shareholders through buybacks, the gap between Prosus's share price and the value of what it owns stayed stuck near 42%, missing one of management's own targets. Another $5 billion of buybacks is planned for next year.
Analysts are split. Abax's Steve Minnaar said the jury is still out on capital allocation and the Tencent overhang, while conceding the AI investment is "very sensible". Bloisi's own benchmark is steep: doubling the group's market value to $168 billion by 2028. The real test is whether the everyday-apps engine can grow big enough, fast enough, to finally step out of Tencent's shadow.
