By Adria Calatayud 
 

Naspers Ltd. (NPN.JO) said Wednesday that it expects earnings per share for fiscal 2018 to soar after it reduced its stake in Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. (0700.HK).

The South African media and internet company said it estimates earnings per share of between $26.08 and $26.56 for the year ended March 31. This compares with EPS of $5.48 for fiscal 2017, which has been adjusted from the $6.77 Naspers originally reported to reflect a change in the company's accounting policy. This growth is due to the one-off gain from the disposal of a portion of the Tencent shares owned by Naspers, the company said.

Core headline EPS--the company's preferred earnings measure, which strips out non-recurring and non-operational items--for fiscal 2018 is expected at between $5.73 and $5.90, Naspers said. This would represent a 70% to 75% growth compared with a core headline EPS of $3.37 for fiscal 2017 after a restatement to reflect the company's new accounting policy.

In March, Naspers sold shares worth more than $10 billion as it reduced its stake in Tencent to 31.2% from 33.2%, in the company's first disposal of stock in the Chinese company since Naspers took a stake in 2001.

The company will publish its full fiscal 2018 results on June 22.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 13, 2018 09:51 ET (13:51 GMT)