Nico Marais takes the helm as interim CFO at Naspers, Prosus

Ang Lloyd 03 December 2024

Nico Marais assumes the role of interim CFO at Naspers and Prosus group, effective 2 December 2024.

Naspers and Prosus group have announced that Nico Marais is the interim group CFO, following the retirement of veteran finance executive, Basil Sgourdos.

During the recent interim results announcement for the six months ended 30 September 2024, Nico, under his new role, said, “We now have a two year track record of consistent revenue growth and improved profitability. We intend to continue that trend. Ecommerce profitability for the half was $181 million, up 5X from the previous financial year. Consolidated Ecommerce adjusted EBIT margin for the period was 6%, compared to a negative margin just a year ago. And I'm very happy that the entire group is now profitable at an adjusted EBIT level. We are not resting here, and we aim to continue expanding our margins meaningfully, and we are well on our way to achieve our ambition of $400 million Ecommerce profitability for FY 2025. “

Nico, who has moved from his role as Prosus group’s GM of finance, previously spent 12 years as group finance manager and GM of finance at Naspers. Naspers is the majority shareholder of Prosus.

He is a chartered accountant and has a BAcc Hons in accounting, tax and auditing from Stellenbosch University.

According to Naspers and Prosus, finalising the role of group CFO has begun, and the market will be advised of this decision in due course.

Ang Lloyd

Ang is a senior writer for CIO South Africa, CHRO South Africa and CFO South Africa. She's been working with words since completing her BA in journalism from Rhodes University in 2004, and she has experience in the B2B and consumer magazine spaces, digital marketing, and writing for the C-Suite. She has a special interest in technology and how it impacts humans, but most of all, she just loves telling people’s stories (she's won awards for some of them). In 2020, she felt like she needed another piece of paper so she completed her honours in journalism at Wits University.

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