Rocket Internet Portfolio Firms Improve Profitability in 1st Half

Rocket Internet SE (RKET.XE) said Thursday that losses at selected companies in its portfolio narrowed in the first half as revenue rose sharply.

For the companies, the aggregate margin on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization improved to minus 12% in the six-month period, compared with minus 19.6% a year earlier. Aggregate revenue rose 29% to 1.24 billion euros ($1.45 billion), the company said.

Rocket is a Berlin-based tech company that fosters startups in areas as such as online fashion retail, food delivery and travel booking. Its portfolio includes online retailers like Home24, Global Fashion Group and HelloFresh.

Analysts focus on the portfolio companies to get a broader picture of how Rocket is doing since it is a smaller, administrative operation.

On a group level, consolidated net losses for the first half narrowed to EUR27 million from EUR617 million, driven by selective sales and the discontinuance of subsidiaries.

Separately, Rocket said it would sell 13% of its Delivery Hero AG (DHER.FF) stake to Naspers Ltd. (NPN.JO) for EUR660 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, with Rocket retaining 13% in the online food deliverer.

For the year, Rocket forecasts that investments in many of its larger network companies will decrease over improved profitability, while revenue and Ebitda margins will improve.

Write to Marc Navarro Gonzalez at marc.navarrogonzalez@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2017 03:01 ET (07:01 GMT)