South African tech giant records 6% increase in revenue thanks to Tencent stake

folarin okunola

June 27, 2016 3:20 PM

Naspers, in its full-year results, reported that its core headline earnings are up 21% to $1.2 billion and that 77% of its revenues were generated outside South Africa.

Bob Van Dijk, CEO Naspers

Media reports say Chinese tech giant Tencent, along with e-commerce businesses, have helped increase South African tech giant, Naspers', revenues by 6% to $12.2 billion for the financial year ended March 31, 2016.

Naspers, in its full-year results, reported that its core headline earnings are up 21% to $1.2 billion and that 77% of its revenues were generated outside South Africa. Not bad.

Another key component of the Naspers empire is its 34% stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent. For the year ended December 31, 2015, Tencent posted 30% annual growth .

ALSO READ: Naspers says can cope with challenge in South Africa

Also, Naspers' stake in Russian email service, Mail.ru, also brought about positive results as the business unit's revenue for the year ended December 2015 rose 11%.

“Our e-commerce businesses benefit both from the continued growth of existing businesses and investments in new models,” said Bob Van Dijk, CEO of Naspers.

However, it is not all rosy for the company. Its video entertainment revenues were down 11% year-on-year, due to weaker African currencies even though the South African base of its video entertainment business increased by 325,000 subscribers.

folarin okunola