It wasn’t the first time Naspers has issued a profit warning; its substantial investments in various e-commerce ventures, as well as the odd corporate restructuring, make it almost inevitable. But this is the first time Tencent has played a contributing role to an expected decline in core annual headline earnings. 

As usual, management seems upbeat about its performance; 2022, it says, was “a year of progress”. Naspers remained focused on “delivering strong operational growth across our core segments”. It invested $6.2bn in new acquisitions and existing business to expand the group’s ecosystem and “to position the business for continued long-term growth in line with long-term strategy”. You get the message? This is all about good things happening some time in the future...