Helios Towers LON: HTWS reported a strong start to 2026 in its first-quarter earnings call, highlighting solid operational execution, accelerating customer demand, and improved financial guidance for the full year. Chief Executive Officer Tom Greenwood said the company delivered a “robust operational and financial performance,” supported by “continued structural demand across our markets and the strength of our business model.”
Greenwood opened the call by noting the broader geopolitical backdrop, extending thoughts to those “caught up in the Iranian conflict,” before turning to company performance and outlook. He was joined by Chief Financial Officer Manjit Dhillon and Head of Investor Relations Chris Baker-Sams.
Operational momentum and tenancy growth
Management attributed the quarter’s performance to continued growth in mobile data usage and network investment by customers across Helios Towers’ footprint. Greenwood said the company delivered “over 1,400 tenancy additions year to date, including 246 new sites,” and reported that its tenancy ratio expanded to 2.2.
Dhillon provided additional detail, saying the company achieved “record tenancy additions” on a year-over-year basis and that Q1 additions were “driven by particularly strong growth in DRC, Tanzania and Oman.” He said site additions were up 4% year-over-year, with 576 added over the last year and 246 delivered in the first quarter.
In response to analyst questions about whether growth was concentrated in specific countries, Greenwood said demand was “generally broad-based” and that, while the largest markets would contribute the most in absolute terms, the growth rate was “fairly consistent” across the portfolio.
Financial performance and contract visibility
On the financial side, Greenwood said adjusted EBITDA grew 14% year-over-year to $127 million, alongside return on invested capital expansion to 15%. He also noted that Q1 included “some timing-related working capital impacts on recurring free cash flow,” which management expects to normalize over the course of the year.
Dhillon said revenue increased 12% year-over-year to $229 million, driven primarily by tenancy additions. He broke out the contributions to growth, stating that 9% of revenue growth came from tenancy additions, with the remainder reflecting CPI escalators and foreign exchange impacts. On EBITDA, Dhillon said 12% growth from tenancy additions was the primary driver behind the 14% overall increase, with additional effects from CPI escalators and FX.
Management also emphasized the company’s contracted revenue base. Dhillon said Helios Towers has $5.3 billion of contracted revenue with an average remaining life of 6.7 years, excluding auto-renewals. He added that this provides a “strong underlying earnings stream,” and noted that initial customer agreements typically run for 10-15 years and are “largely non-cancelable.”
Dhillon also highlighted Helios Towers’ currency mix and customer quality, stating that 68% of revenue and 71% of adjusted EBITDA are in hard currency. He added that “circa 70%” of revenue comes from investment-grade customers and that 99% comes from “blue-chip mobile network operators.”
Guidance raised on stronger pipeline
A key takeaway from the call was a material upgrade to full-year expectations, reflecting what executives characterized as increased visibility in the tenancy pipeline. Greenwood said the company now expects:
- Tenancy additions: 3,000-3,500 (up from prior guidance)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $515 million-$530 million
- Recurring free cash flow: $215 million-$230 million
Dhillon said the company increased guidance by 1,000 incremental tenancies, calling it the “largest and earliest increase to guidance we’ve done to date.” Of those incremental tenancies, he expects 500 to be colocations and 500 to be new sites. Dhillon said the additional tenancies are expected to roll out later in the year, contributing roughly $5 million of incremental in-year EBITDA, but are projected to deliver “over $15 million in annualized EBITDA in 2027 and growing thereon.”
Greenwood said the upgraded guidance is supported by an “accelerating investment cycle” from mobile network operators as they expand coverage, increase capacity, and deploy newer technologies such as 4G and 5G. When asked about growth beyond 2026, Greenwood said the company is not changing its longer-term plan at this point, describing Q1 as “a very good start” within the five-year “Impact Twenty Thirty” strategy period.
Capital allocation, CapEx, and shareholder returns
Management reiterated its focus on disciplined capital allocation. Greenwood said Helios Towers prioritizes organic growth investments where it sees attractive returns, describing the business as operating in a “cash compounding sweet spot” that supports both reinvestment and shareholder distributions.
Dhillon said the company is “very happy with the incremental investment of $70 million” to support the additional 1,000 tenancy rollouts. As a result, discretionary CapEx guidance increased to $180 million-$210 million. Despite the higher investment, management said shareholder distributions remain unchanged at $76 million for fiscal 2026, with returns delivered via a combination of buybacks and a dividend.
On build economics, Dhillon said Helios Towers only constructs new sites once it has an order in place, meaning “every site will have a minimum of 1 tenants on day 1.” He added that recent new-build “vintages” typically reach two tenants within roughly two to two-and-a-half years. Addressing inflation concerns, Dhillon said the company has kept its build-to-suit costs broadly stable, citing a typical range of $100,000 to $150,000 per site depending on location and type. He attributed cost stability to design re-engineering and supplier negotiations driven by higher volumes.
Balance sheet actions and operating considerations
The company also detailed recent financing activity intended to extend maturities and reduce borrowing costs. Dhillon said Helios Towers raised $500 million of new 6.75% senior notes in late March, using proceeds to repay existing term loan facilities, with the new notes maturing in 2031. He said the refinancing extended average maturity by one year to four years and reduced the cost of debt by 40 basis points to 6.7%, leaving “no near-term maturities until 2027.”
Dhillon added that Helios Towers raised a $250 million term loan that remains undrawn, intended to help manage a potential convertible bond maturity in March 2027. He said the company has more than $500 million in cash and undrawn debt facilities. Net leverage declined year-over-year by 0.5 turns to 3.5x, and Dhillon said management expects leverage to “come down slightly” over the course of the year.
Responding to a question about fuel supply and power reliability, Greenwood said there had been “no impact from an operational standpoint,” and that the company has “several months worth of backups across all markets.” He also outlined the typical power mix across the portfolio, averaging about 17 hours per day from the grid, with the remaining seven hours split roughly evenly between solar/hybrid solutions and fuel-form generators. Greenwood said maintaining “99.99% power uptime” remains central to customer experience.
Greenwood closed by reiterating confidence in execution and outlook, stating that the company’s performance was “ahead of market expectations” and that the upgraded guidance reflects both strong delivery and a strong pipeline. Management also previewed an in-person half-year event in London on July 30, which Greenwood said will include a deep dive on multi-decade growth and future network developments.
About Helios Towers LON: HTWS
Helios Towers is a leading independent telecommunications infrastructure company, having established one of the most extensive tower portfolios across Africa and the Middle East. It builds, owns and operates telecom passive infrastructure, providing services to mobile network operators.
Helios Towers owns and operates telecommunication tower sites in Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Madagascar, Malawi and Oman.
Helios Towers pioneered the model in Africa of buying towers that were held by single operators and providing services utilising the tower infrastructure to the seller and other operators.
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