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Prosus' AI-powered ecosystem strategy driving 85% earnings growth

Internet business

Edward West|Published
Prosus, the Europe-based subsidiary of Naspers, achieved profitability across all three regional ecosystems in the year to end March 2026.

Prosus, the Europe-based subsidiary of Naspers, achieved profitability across all three regional ecosystems in the year to end March 2026.

Image: File

Prosus, the European internet business group and Naspers subsidiary, saw its profitability jump 84% in the year to March 31 after the implementation of its “ecosystem” strategy a year ago, which grew the business substantially.

The strong earnings growth appeared to hearten investors, and Prosus’ share price ratcheted up 3,6% on the JSE Monday morning to R724,54, while Naspers’ share price increased 4,2% to R833,05.

For Prosus it was a year of strong results, disciplined capital allocation, and accelerating AI innovation delivered across its AI-powered Lifestyle Ecosystem of delivery, finance, and experiences, with all regional ecosystems profitable. “Last year, our Ecosystem model was just a plan,” CEO Fabricio Bloisi said Monday in a presentation.

“Our businesses are increasingly interconnected, driving higher engagement, stronger cross-selling, and accelerating network effects. AI is embedded at every layer, from agents that run operations to life assistants that serve customers directly,” he said, outlining broadly how their Ecosystem model works.

ToqanClaw, the group’s agentic AI platform, was currently available to more than 5 million restaurant partners, building the intelligent systems that define the next phase of commerce.

Prosus’ dividend increased by 40% to 28 euro cents. Some $46bn was also returned to shareholders through share buybacks. There were some $2bn of non-core asset sales.

“At Prosus, we are building something fundamentally different, an AI-powered Lifestyle Ecosystem that gets smarter and stronger with every interaction. Eighteen months ago, this was a vision. Today, the integrated ecosystem is a reality, and it’s scaling fast. The more we grow, the greater the opportunity ahead,” he said.

He said their AI capabilities are live, scaling, and delivering real competitive advantage. “We are moving from reactive platforms to intelligent systems that predict, personalise, and execute based on proprietary data,” he added.

“The Large Commerce Model, the agentic platform Toqan, and our life assistants are changing how our customers and partners experience the digital economy. Our own models are also significantly cheaper than the large US models,” said Bloisi.

“Prosus is much more than it was a year ago — and we are just getting started,” he said.

CFO Nico Marais said the group had delivered strong free cash flow, tripled its ecosystem adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (aEBITDA) in two years, and achieved profitability across all three regional ecosystems. Excluding the income from the investment in the China internet group Tencent, about $300 of free cash flow was generated.

“Looking ahead, we are deployingm capital by investing in iFood and JET to strengthen our food ecosystem, continuing our buyback programme, and actively building Prosus Plus. Our fundamentals are strong, our strategy is clear, and we are confident in our group’s ability to keep delivering value for shareholders,” said Marais.

In Latin America, iFood, iFood Pago, and Despegar were generating cross-platform synergies, powered by the LCM and connected by Life Assistants.

iFood expanded its market leadership, growing beyond food delivery, with loyalty, fintech, and new categories all gaining meaningful traction. Its revenue grew 40% (28%), with aEBITDA up 56% (49%) to $400m and aEBIT up 58% (51%) to $358m.

iFood Pago scaled strongly, with revenue up 219% (93%) to $463m, now accounting for about 25% of iFood's total revenues; aEBITDA turned positive at $38m.

The ecosystem in India was evolving through better execution and acquisitions of high-potential businesses, with new investments in Rapido and ixigo. Revenue grew 13% (11%) to $781m, with aEBITDA turning positive at $18m for the first time.

In Europe, OLX increased revenue 28% (16%) to $992m and aEBITDA by 53% (38%) to $481m, with an 8 percentage point margin expansion to 48%. Motors increased revenue by 42% (20%) to $429m. Real estate revenue was up 26% (24%) to $185m.

 Just Eat Takeaway's operational turnaround centred on three priorities: cultural shift to The Prosus Way, accelerating technology and innovation, and sharpening market focus. For the six-month post-acquisition period, JET delivered revenue of $1.9bn and aEBITDA of $83m. Early pilot results of a new growth strategy in selected cities show order growth of up to 25%.

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