Prosus has reported higher full-year earnings, buoyed by a strong contribution from iFood in Latin America, continued growth from OLX in Europe and the acquisitions of Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) and Despegar.The group on Monday reported revenue growth for continuing operations of 57% to $9.7bn for the year to end-March. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) were 84% higher at $1.3bn.Core headline earnings, the group’s preferred measure of after-tax operating performance, grew 13% to $8.3bn. Core headline earnings per share increased 24% driven by strong growth in revenue and profitability of its consolidated businesses and equity-accounted investments, most notably in Tencent.HEPS for total operations rose to 286c from 256c a year ago. The board has recommended a dividend of 28 euro cents, up 40% from a year ago.The group said Prosus delivered “good results” for the 2026 financial year, successfully achieving its ambitious revenue and adjusted ebitda guidance targets. The Latin American operations delivered “robust” results, with Despegar exceeding expectations and demonstrating accelerated growth. iFood maintained its strong operational performance in a highly competitive market, it said.“We remain confident of iFood’s long-term growth potential, though we anticipate increased capital deployment over the coming 12-month period to support continued market leadership,” the group said.Prosus successfully completed two strategic acquisitions in Europe — La Centrale and JET — furthering its regional expansion objectives. “JET is a significant growth opportunity that will require investment and enhanced operational capabilities under a strengthened management team. We expect to deliver substantial operational improvements and report measurable progress against growth and operational targets within the next 12 to 18 months,” it said.“Our strategic objective remains to unlock substantial value in the everyday economies of our large-scale regional lifestyle e-commerce ecosystems spanning LatAm, India and Europe.”The group’s holding in global technology company Tencent will be maintained for the foreseeable future, it said. Tencent is a cornerstone of the group’s portfolio, consistently generating outstanding returns through its dynamic ecosystem that uniquely positions it to capitalise on agentic AI, it added. “We continue to invest in AI — we anticipate that our large commerce model (LCM) will form the intelligence that powers all our applications and agents," Prosus said.Parent Naspers said its core HEPS from continuing operations increased to 455c from 366c a year ago. The financial results of Prosus almost completely account for Naspers’ results.Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi, who doubles up as Naspers CEO, used his recent annual letter to shareholders to shore up confidence in the group’s growth story, with all of the company’s ecosystems now profitable.“We are making meaningful progress in building the number one lifestyle ecosystem in Latin America, Europe and India. We will continue this discipline in FY27. We will make trade-offs to drive growth, increase investment to compete more aggressively and accelerate product deployment to position our ecosystems for long-term secular growth,” he said recently.Bloisi has been making moves to reshape the portfolio, clinching some of the group’s largest mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in its history.The group last year completed the $1.7bn purchase of Latin American online travel agency Despegar, taking total M&A spending under Bloisi to about $6bn since he took office in 2024.Bloisi has been given a herculean task of doubling the group’s market capitalisation to $168bn by 2028 — dangling a $100m “moonshot” award for him should he meet the lofty target, which, if achieved, would make the group bigger than the present market cap of SoftBank, PayPal, Shopify and Airbnb.With Mudiwa GavazaBusiness Day