Helios Towers shares drop: Debt rises, revenue and profit lifts as guidance ‘tightened’
Shares in telecommunications tower company Helios Towers plunged more than 12 per cent in early trading on Friday after it said it has racked up a larger debt pile in its interim results.
The London-listed company said net debt edged up three per cent to $1.76bn (£1.39bn) in the six months to 30 June.
Results were otherwise largely positive. Half year revenue increased by 11 per cent year on year to $389.9m (£306.8m), up from $350.2m (£275.6m) in the first half of 2023.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 19 per cent year on year to $206.2m (£162.3m).
Helios Towers said revenue and earnings growth was fuelled by a record number of tenancy additions so far this year. In the first half, tenancies increased ten per cent to more than 28,500, up from just below 25,900 in 2023.
It now operates more than 14,000 telecom towers across nine markets in Africa and the Middle East, servicing local mobile network operators.
Operating profit soared by 91 per cent year-on-year to $132.3m (£104.2m) thanks to adjusted EBITDA growth and lower depreciation.
The company also reduced its loss before tax to $0.4m (£315,000), compared to a $39.4m (£31m) loss before tax in the year ago period.
Chief executive Tom Greenwood said: “I am delighted to see our strong performance continue across our business, with our team delivering record year-to-date tenancy additions and power uptime for our customers – all leading to strong adjusted EBITDA growth, cash generation, returns expansion, and continued deleveraging. Accordingly, we have tightened our full-year guidance upwards across a number of key metrics.
He continued: “Through this transaction, we extended our average maturity to five years and kept our blended cost of debt broadly stable despite rising rates over the past few years.
“We are progressing well towards our 2026 strategic targets, including tenancy ratio expansion and free cash flow generation, and the team are pleased to deliver consistent performance for our stakeholders despite the broader macro volatility.”