Naspers expects earnings to fall

South African-based pay-TV operator Naspers has announced that it expects earnings to fall by up to half when it releases its latest financial results later this month. The company said that last year’s profits were boosted by the sale of its Greek pay-TV unit NetMed to telco Forthnet for US$760m (€610m).

“Mainly as a consequence of once-off accounting profits arising on the sale of the pay television operation in Greece last year, it is expected that earnings per share for the year ended March 31 2010 will be between 40% and 50% lower compared to the prior period,” it noted.