MultiChoice Group, which will be directly listed on the JSE after the pay-TV operator parts ways with parent company Naspers, has set aside R2.5bn for dividends to shareholders for the year to March 2020. Naspers said after the market’s close on Monday it would hand its stake in the DStv operator to its shareholders with effect from March 4, thus completing its transformation into an internet-only behemoth. As Africa’s largest public company, Naspers mostly was a publishing and pay-TV business until its 2001 investment in China’s Tencent. MultiChoice funded that deal and a large portion of Naspers’ subsequent internet ventures, but will soon go it alone at a time when internet rivals are threatening the traditional pay-TV market. MultiChoice finance chief Tim Jacobs told Business Day on Monday the board did not plan to pay a dividend for financial year 2019, but aimed to declare an inaugural dividend of R2.5bn for financial year 2020. Jacobs said he is confident MultiChoice would fl...
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