Top South Africa tech investor says it is no longer just a Tencent story

For years, investors have judged Prosus by a single yardstick: Tencent.

The Amsterdam-listed internet giant, majority-owned by South African consumer internet group Naspers, built much of its market value on an early investment in the Chinese technology company. While Prosus assembled a portfolio spanning food delivery, payments, classifieds, and e-commerce across emerging markets, Tencent remained the business that mattered most.

Now Prosus says that equation is beginning to change.

In a trading statement released on Friday ahead of its annual results, the company said all of its operating ecosystems had reached profitability, marking a milestone in its effort to build businesses capable of generating earnings beyond Tencent.

Prosus generated $7.3 billion in revenue and $1.1 billion in ecosystem adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) for the year ended March 31, 2026. Core headline earnings per share are expected to increase by between 19% and 28%, while headline earnings are forecast to rise by between 6.7% and 15.7%.

For much of the past decade, investors have questioned whether Prosus’s collection of operating businesses could create enough value to justify the billions invested in them. While Tencent consistently delivered outsized returns, many of Prosus’s businesses remained focused on growth rather than profitability.

Friday’s statement suggests that transition may be reaching a turning point.

“This is probably the first time that all of the ecosystem assets are cash-flow positive and generating a profit,” Rowan Williams, chief investment officer at Nitrogen Fund Managers, told TechCabal. “That should help Prosus become increasingly independent and less reliant on Tencent’s cash flows.”

The comment goes to the heart of a question that has followed Prosus for years: whether the company could build a profitable operating business beyond the Chinese technology giant that transformed Naspers into one of the world’s most valuable technology investors.

“The financial year ended March 2026 marked a milestone for Prosus,” stated Prosus in its trading statement. “We delivered on our ambitious targets, generating over US$7.3 billion in revenue and US$1.1 billion in Ecosystem adjusted EBITDA. Every one of our ecosystems is now profitable, and our free cash flow, excluding Tencent, continues to grow.”

The company said stronger revenue growth and profitability across its consolidated businesses, alongside improved contributions from equity-accounted investments such as Tencent, drove earnings higher.

The results also offer a clearer view of how Prosus wants investors to see the company. Rather than positioning itself as a technology investment holding company, Prosus is increasingly presenting itself as an operator of digital platforms.

“We have completed our transformation from a traditional holding company into an active operator of AI-driven lifestyle ecosystems across Latin America, Europe and India,” the directors said.

That shift is visible across the group’s portfolio. Prosus controls Brazilian food delivery giant iFood, owns payments business PayU, and continues to invest in e-commerce, fintech, and online marketplace businesses. In August, it announced plans to increase investment in iFood. 

Yet Tencent remains central to the investment case. Prosus said earnings growth from its operating businesses was partly offset by a lower gain from Tencent share sales and unrealised foreign exchange losses linked to euro-denominated bonds. Prosus is not escaping Tencent’s shadow overnight. But for the first time, it can point to a portfolio where every major operating ecosystem is profitable.