Prosus operates online food delivery, classified and payments businesses, and holds a 31% stake in Chinese social media and online gaming company Tencent.

Core headline earnings, a non-standard measure that the Amsterdam-based company says best reflects its underlying performance, had been $1.7 billion in the year-ago period.

"The pandemic has accelerated activity in the consumer internet space, benefiting our businesses," Chief Executive Officer Bob van Dijk said in a statement.

In its outlook, Prosus said its underlying businesses were "strong, with all well-positioned to build on the accelerating shift to online triggered by the pandemic."

The company reported an operating loss of $207 million, but narrowed from last year's loss of $252 million, which Prosus said was due to better performance by its food delivery platforms in Brazil and India.

Proceeds from companies in which Prosus owns a minority stake, which include the Tencent stake, increased to $2.9 billion from $2.3 billion.

That led to per-share earnings of $1.85, up from $1.54, in line with the company's Nov. 16 trading statement.

Shares of the tech investor closed at 90.00 euros ($106.87) on Friday.

Prosus, which ended the half year with $4.3 billion in net cash, said in October that it plans to buy back $5 billion worth of shares in its own and parent Nasper, proportionate to the South African company's 72.6% stake in Prosus.

Prosus said on Monday the buying programme is aimed at reducing the gap in valuation between its own 148 billion euro market capitalization and the 190 billion euro market value of its stake in Tencent.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Kim Coghill and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)