David Shapiro on whether Naspers and Prosus remain good investments 

South Africa’s favourite market commentator David Shapiro sheds light on Naspers and Prosus results, which have been eagerly anticipated by the market. Naspers and Prosus have been drags on the performance of the JSE, with its crown jewel Tencent under intense scrutiny following Chinese regulatory crackdowns. Tencent’s underlying performance within the stable, however, was promising and contributed 118% of Prosus’ operating profit. This means the rest of the e-commerce businesses within the group lost money, despite having a valuation of close to $50bn. Bob van Dijk and his management team have been bullish on industries such as Food Delivery, with many analysts concerned about the performance of its e-commerce portfolio. Shapiro says it will take many more years for the e-commerce unit to contribute materially to earnings, and that Tencent will continue to be the driver of performance for the two businesses for the foreseeable future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices