Helios Towers’ (HTWS) first half operating profit more than doubled year-on-year to $29.3m (£22.5m), as the telecoms infrastructure provider was largely unaffected by coronavirus. Adjusted cash profits were up by a tenth, on a slightly improved margin of 53 per cent.
The group’s growth was led by an addition of 806 tenancies, bumping its tenancy ratio (the average number of customers using each tower) to 2.10, an increase of 0.05 from the 2019 half-year.
Helios continued its expansive push in Africa, having recently agreed with mobile operator Free Senegal to acquire 1,220 of its towers for a cash consideration of €160 million (£145m). The company also secured 400 build-to-suit sites, as well as a 15-year service agreement with the operator to provide hosting and energy services. But this aggressive expansion does not come cheap: Helios issued $750m worth of senior notes in the period, as well as securing a $70m revolving credit facility and a new term loan of up to $200m.
Analysts at Jefferies forecast revenues of $433m and a loss per share of 1.0 cent in the 2020 full year, rising to $524m and positive EPS of 8.0 cents in 2021 (up from a previous estimate of 6.0 cents).
| HELIOS TOWERS (HTWS) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 168p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 1.7bn | |
| TOUCH: | 168-171p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 205p | LOW: 98p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NIL | PE RATIO: | NA | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 8¢ | NET DEBT: | £655.7m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
| 2019 | 191 | -18.7 | -2.0 | nil |
| 2020 | 204 | -83.0 | -9.0 | nil |
| % change | +7 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
| £1=$1.3 | ||||
