Prosus NV’s new Chief Executive Officer Fabricio Bloisi said adjusted profit at the company’s e-commerce division is expected to surge more than 950% this fiscal year as the executive works to increase the South African business’s market value.
Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes will be $400 million in the 12 months ending in March, Bloisi said in a statement on Monday outlining his first 100 days in the CEO role. That compares to $38 million in the same period a year earlier, the division’s first profit.
Bloisi is contending with the legacy of a complicated business structure that stumped his predecessor. The group’s investment in Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. has disproportionate sway over Prosus’s stock price. Meanwhile, the dozens of online businesses the group owns and operates itself has faced market headwinds.
Prosus was spun out from Cape Town-headquartered Naspers Ltd., one of the biggest technology investors globally, and listed in Amsterdam about five years ago. A single CEO oversees both companies.
“Today Prosus is worth around $100 billion, and I am focused on how we can create another $100 billion of value in the Prosus ecosystem by building and investing in fast growing and profitable businesses,” Bloisi said in the letter. “I am also focused on how that will generate real returns for our shareholders.”
Prosus’s shares fell 0.7% to €39.08 at 10:13 a.m. in Amsterdam trading on Monday. Naspers fell 0.7% in Johannesburg. Tencent shares also dropped in Hong Kong along with the overall Hang Seng Index. Naspers is Tencent’s largest shareholder.
In the first half of the year, e-commerce revenue growth accelerated from fiscal 2024, generating about three times the adjusted Ebit than it did in the entire year last year, Bloisi said in the letter.
“I do not expect this pace of improvement to slow down next year,” Bloisi said. “It is critical that our core e-commerce business becomes a bigger source of profitability and free cash flow for the group.”
Indian online food delivery firm Swiggy has announced that it is planning an initial public offering, and Bloisi said he expects more of the businesses the company owns in India to list in the next 12 to 18 months.
The company also continues to integrate AI across its businesses. IFood, its online food delivery business in Brazil, that he led previously, hit 100 million orders a month for the first time ever this year.
Last month, Prosus sold its stake in China’s Trip.com for $1.5 billion, and sold online fashion retailer Superbalist in South Africa. The firm also signed an agreement to sell its Romanian food delivery company Tazz.