Helios Towers plc announces results for the year and quarter ended 31 December 2024

 

FY 2024 performance ahead of expectations

 

+2,481 tenancy additions

 

+14% Adjusted EBITDA growth

 

Free cash flow positive with +US$100m expansion

 

                                                                                      

London, 13 March 2025:  Helios Towers plc ("Helios Towers", "the Group" or "the Company"), the independent

telecommunications infrastructure company, today announces results for the year to 31 December 2024 ("FY 2024").

 

Tom Greenwood, Chief Executive Officer, said:         

 

"FY 2024 has been a year of significant progress. Our continued improvements in roll-out speed, power uptime and tenancy ratio expansion has supported mobile operators to deliver ever more reliable, expansive and sustainable mobile connectivity. Today, 151 million people are under the coverage footprint of our towers.

 

As expected, this operational execution and commitment to our colocation strategy translated into strong financial performance, with double-digit Adjusted EBITDA growth and ROIC expansion. The output of that progress is a US$100m improvement in free cash flow, inflecting to become positive for the first time, to US$19m. Achieving our tenth consecutive year of Adjusted EBITDA growth, underscores the Company's ability to consistently capture the growth in Africa and Middle East with a robust and predictable business model.

 

Our financial guidance for FY 2025 includes continued growth, ROIC expansion and deleveraging and is supported by our 2.2x by 2026 strategy. We expect this will provide financial flexibility and capacity for the Company to commence returning capital to shareholders in 2026, while at the same time continuing to invest in attractive growth opportunities, driving value for all our stakeholders."

 

 

	FY 2024	FY 2023	Change	Q4 2024	Q4 2023	Change
Sites	14,325	14,097	+2%	14,325	14,097	+2%
Tenancies	29,406	26,925	+9%	29,406	26,925	+9%
Tenancy ratio	2.05x	1.91x	+0.14x	2.05x	1.91x	+0.14x
Revenue (US$m)	792.0	721.0	+10%	207.3	187.3	+11%
Adjusted EBITDA (US$m)1	421.0	369.9	+14%	109.1	100.7	+8%
Adjusted EBITDA margin1	53%	51%	+2ppt	53%	54%	-1ppt
Operating profit (US$m)	242.3	146.1	+66%	51.7	33.5	+54%
Portfolio free cash flow (US$m)1	298.4	268.2	+11%	80.8	71.1	+14%
Free cash flow (US$m)1	18.7	(81.1)	+99.8	39.8	(58.7)	+98.5
Cash generated from operations (US$m)	397.2	318.5	+25%	154.0	78.8	+95%
Net debt (US$m)1	1,735.5	1,783.1	-3%	1,735.5	1,783.1	-3%
Net leverage1,2	4.0x	4.4x	-0.4x	4.0x	4.4x	-0.4x

 

1 Alternative Performance Measures are described in our defined terms and conventions.

2 Calculated as per the Senior Notes definition of net debt divided by annualised Adjusted EBITDA.

 

 

Financial highlights

Financial performance driven by tenancy growth, underpinned by a base of contracted revenues that feature CPI and power price protections

 

 

·      FY 2024 revenue increased by 10%, predominantly driven by tenancy growth

 

·      FY 2024 Adjusted EBITDA increased by 14%, reflecting tenancy growth and margin accretive tenancy ratio expansion

                                  

·      FY 2024 Adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 2ppt, driven by +0.14x tenancy ratio expansion

 

·      FY 2024 operating profit increased by 66%, driven by growth in Adjusted EBITDA and lower depreciation of US$52.8m, largely reflecting an update to our tower asset depreciation policy, effective from 1 January 2024

 

·      FY 2024 profit after tax inflected positive for the first time in the Company's history, improving from a loss before tax of US$111.8m to US$27.0m, driven by higher operating profit, US$34.9m lower finance costs and a benefit from a one-off tax credit

 

·      FY 2024 portfolio free cash flow increased by 11%, driven by Adjusted EBITDA growth, partially offset higher taxes paid

 

·      FY 2024 ROIC expanded by 1ppt to 13%, driven by portfolio free cash flow growth through capital efficient tenancy ratio expansion

 

·      FY 2024 free cash flow increased by US$99.8m, inflecting positive for the first time in the Company's history, to US$18.7m, driven by Adjusted EBITDA growth, lower capital expenditure and improved working capital

 

·      FY 2024 cash generated from operations increased by 25%, driven by Adjusted EBITDA growth and improved working capital

 

·      Net leverage decreased by 0.4x year-on-year to 4.0x

o  In February 2025, the Group received a second rating upgrade from S&P within a year, increasing to BB- (Stable)

 

·      Business underpinned by future contracted revenues of US$5.1bn (FY 2023: US$5.4bn), of which 99.4% is from multinational MNOs, with an average remaining initial life of 6.9 years

 

Operational highlights

Structurally high-growth markets, leading market positions and customer service focus supporting strong and consistent tenancy growth

 

·      Sites increased by 228 year-on-year to 14,325, driven by DRC and Tanzania (FY 2023: 14,097)

 

·      Tenancies increased by 2,481 year-on-year to 29,406, driven by Tanzania and Oman (FY 2023: 26,925)

 

·      Tenancy ratio increased by 0.14x year-on-year to 2.05x (FY 2023: 1.91x)

 

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

 

·      The Group has made continued progress against many of its Sustainable Business Strategy targets in FY 2024:

o  151m population coverage footprint (FY 2023: 144m)

o  6,008 rural sites, achieving 2026 target of 6,000 sites (FY 2023: 5,817)

o  Record 99.99% power uptime (FY 2023: 99.98%)

o  6% reduction in carbon emissions per tenant (FY 2023: 4%)¹

o  58% employees trained in Lean Six Sigma (FY 2023: 53%)

o  29% female employees (FY 2023: 28%)

o  95% local employees in our operating companies (FY 2023: 96%)

 

·      The Company has been recognised by external rating agencies for its Sustainable Business Strategy and commitment to transparency

o  'AAA' rating from MSCI reaffirmed

o  Inclusion in the FTSE4Good Index for a third consecutive year

o  Scored B in 2024 CDP disclosure

o  Workforce Disclosure Initiative (WDI) disclosure score of 87% in 2024 (2023: 80%), exceeding both sector and UK company average

 

1          Reflects change in Scope 1 and 2 emissions from a 2020 baseline. Decrease reflects tenancy growth exceeding absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions growth.

 

2025 outlook and guidance

 

·      2,000 - 2,500 tenancy additions

·      Adjusted EBITDA of US$460m - US$470m

·      Capital expenditure of US$150m - US$180m

o  Of which, US$100m - US$130m and US$50m is expected to be discretionary¹ and non-discretionary², respectively

·      Free cash flow of US$40m - US$60m³

·      Net leverage c.3.5x

 

1          Discretionary includes acquisitions, growth and upgrade capex.

2          Non-discretionary includes maintenance and corporate capex.

3          Assumes a net working capital outflow of approximately $20m.

 

 

Helios Towers' management will host a conference call for analysts and institutional investors at 09.30 GMT on Thursday, 13 March 2025. For the best user experience, please access the conference via the webcast. You can pre-register and access the event using the link below:

 

Registration Link - Helios Towers FY 2024 Results Conference Call

Event Name: FY2024

Password: HELIOS

 

If you are unable to use the webcast for the event, or if you intend to participate in Q&A during the call, please dial in using the details below:

 

Europe & International	+44 203 936 2999
South Africa (local)	+27 87 550 8441
USA (local)	+1 646 664 1960
Passcode:	514470

 

 

Upcoming Conferences and Events

 

·    JP Morgan European Opportunities Forum (London) - 13 March 2025

·    Berenberg UK Corporate Conference (Watford) - 19 March 2025

·    Jefferies Pan-European Mid-Cap Conference (London) - 25 March 2025

·    Annual General Meeting (London) - 15 May 2025

 

For further information go to:

www.heliostowers.com

 

Investor Relations

Chris Baker-Sams - Head of Strategic Finance and Investor Relations

+44 (0)782 511 2288

[email protected]

 

Media relations

Edward Bridges / Rob Mindell

FTI Consulting LLP

+44 (0)203 727 1000

 

About Helios Towers

 

·      Helios Towers is a leading independent telecommunications infrastructure company, having established one of the most extensive tower portfolios across Africa. It builds, owns and operates telecom passive infrastructure, providing services to mobile network operators.

·    Helios Towers owns and operates over 14,000 telecommunication tower sites in nine countries across Africa and the Middle East.

·    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. This allows wireless operators to outsource non-core tower-related activities, enabling them to focus their capital and managerial resources on providing higher quality services more cost-effectively.

 

Alternative Performance Measures

 

The Group has presented a number of Alternative Performance Measures ("APMs"), which are used in addition to IFRS statutory performance measures. The Group believes that these APMs, which are not considered to be a substitute for or superior to IFRS measures, provide stakeholders with additional helpful information on the performance of the business. These APMs are consistent with how the business performance is planned and reported within the internal management reporting to the Board. Loss before tax, gross profit, non-current and current loans and long-term and short-term lease liabilities are the equivalent statutory measures (see 'Certain defined terms and conventions'). For more information on the Group's Alternative Performance Measures, see the Group's Annual report for the year ended 31 December 2024, publishedon the Group's website. Reconciliations of APMs to the equivalent statutory measure are included in the Group's Half-Year and Annual financial reports.

 

Chair's statement

 

"To close the infrastructure gap and support future growth in Africa and the Middle East, infrastructure developers must operate efficiently and sustainably.

In 2024, our business exemplified these principles, achieving 10 consecutive years of Adjusted EBITDA growth and inflecting to positive free cash flow. This financial strength enables our continued investment in capital-efficient opportunities, driving the sustainable growth of mobile communications across our markets."

 

Sir Samuel Jonah KBE, OSG

Chair

 

Our performance in 2024 demonstrates the insatiable demand for mobile connectivity and our ability to support mobile operators expansion, through our robust and predictable business model. Together with our partners, our dedicated team continues to enable life-changing connectivity to communities across our markets.

As Chair, I am deeply passionate about our business and the positive impact it creates in our markets. During my recent visits to Senegal, Tanzania, South Africa and Oman, I experienced the positive contribution of mobile connectivity. It enables children in remote areas to access digital learning, farmers to gain real-time weather updates, small businesses to reach new customers through mobile commerce, and families to stay connected over long distances. These opportunities drive economic development and profoundly enhance the wellbeing of individuals and entire communities in our markets.

I am grateful for our talented people whose dedication and commitment have made all of this possible. Their drive to deliver on our purpose is a constant source of inspiration. I am excited about our growth ahead, knowing that we are only at the beginning of this incredible journey.

 

Consistent delivery towards 2026 targets

I am immensely proud of the growth the Company has delivered during my almost six years as Chair. While this progress is evident in our reported financial performance, it is equally reflected in the positive feedback we consistently receive from our customers, partners and talented team.

Our customers recognise the world-class power uptime and rapid rollout speeds we deliver, which is why we continue to secure their trust, win new business and achieve strong tenancy growth. In our most recent customer satisfaction survey, 92% of customers expressed satisfaction with their overall interactions with the Helios Towers team, and 89% said they would recommend us to their peers.

Our success is underpinned by the hard work and commitment of our local teams and partners. Through continuous training and development, they apply Lean Six Sigma principles to eliminate waste and focus on elevating performance.

Despite the numerous external global challenges since setting our 2026 sustainable business targets, I am pleased to see the Company making solid progress against our impact areas of digital inclusion, climate action, local, diverse, talented teams, and responsible governance, delivering value for all our stakeholders.

 

Digital inclusion and climate action

With only 50% of the population connected across our markets today and rapid population growth expected, there remains a huge need for infrastructure expansion over the coming years.

In 2024, we extended the coverage footprint of our towers by seven million to 151 million people, supported by our site expansion. We are proud that we continue to connect the unconnected, with rural sites exceeding our 2026 target of 6,000, notably through rollout in DRC.

While telecommunications infrastructure in our markets remains underdeveloped compared to the rest of the world, we remain committed to supporting connectivity while reducing carbon intensity.

In November, our Sustainability Committee approved the Company's updated 2030 carbon reduction per tenant target. This changed from 46% to 36%, reflecting the integration of recent acquisitions, the outlook for our established markets and better-than-expected rural expansion in DRC, where unreliable grid supply necessitates the use of fuel.

While markets such as DRC, Malawi and Madagascar remain carbon intensive, we believe this should not limit our ability to invest in these markets to develop mobile communications. Our infrastructure-sharing model supports the mobile industry as a whole to become more efficient while providing socio-economic benefits.

In this context, our intensity target provides us with an ambitious but achievable goal. We plan to invest over US$100 million between 2022 and 2030 in lower carbon solutions, such as grid connections, hybrid and solar, as well as reducing miles driven to sites through the use of remote monitoring technologies.

 

Additionally, we continue to collaborate with governments and national grid providers to identify opportunities to reduce carbon intensity, such as further proliferation and consistency of the grid connectivity across our markets.

 

Local, diverse, talented teams

I believe for the Board to provide the best governance it is important we spend meaningful time with our colleagues. For example, our Tanzania team hosted our Board meeting in June. Through spending time with colleagues, I saw firsthand the drive and passion within our Company that fuels our pursuit of excellence.

This commitment is also reflected in our employee engagement score of 86% in 2024, earning us the People Insight Outstanding Workplace Award for the second year in a row. In the spirit of continuous improvement, our Independent Non-Executive Director for Workforce Engagement, Sally Ashford hosted engagement sessions across the Company. These discussions will play a crucial role in shaping management's action plans going forward.

We are committed to ensuring our organisation continues to be a place where everyone feels valued and supported. I am particularly pleased we continue to make progress on hiring talented local teams and improving female representation across our workforce.

 

Responsible governance

Responsible governance and ethical business practices underpin the delivery of our Sustainable Business Strategy.

We are delighted to have received external recognition once again, including the highest 'AAA' rating from MSCI and FTSE4Good Index inclusion for a third consecutive year.

We continue to comply with the FTSE Women Leaders Review recommendation and FCA's Listing Rules target of 40% female representation on the Board and to have a female director in at least one of the senior board positions. We also continue to exceed the FCA's Listing Rules target and Parker Review requirement on ethnicity.

The Board is satisfied that our strategy and actions reflect the requirements of and our compliance with Section 172(1), and there is more information relating to this throughout our Annual Report, specifically on pages 70-72.

 

Outlook

As we look ahead, I remain confident in the Company's leadership and our teams' ability to execute on our 2026 Sustainable Business Strategy, driving value for all our stakeholders. On behalf of the Board, I thank all our stakeholders for their continued trust, and I look forward to another year of progress and success.

 

Sir Samuel Jonah KBE, OSG

Chair

 

Group CEO's statement

 

"I am proud of our achievements in 2024 as we continue making progress towards our 2.2x tenancy ratio by 2026 target, while increasing the population coverage of our towers by seven million people to 151 million. We remain focused on Customer Service Excellence, setting new records for power uptime, speed-to-market and organic tenancy additions, powered by our people and innovation in technology and operations.

The team is excited to carry this momentum into 2025, as we move closer to achieving our 2026 targets and align on new medium-term goals."

Tom Greenwood

Group CEO

 

Our purpose is to connect communities and drive the growth of mobile communication in some of the most exciting markets in the world.

We have built our tower portfolio through a combination of acquisition and organic new builds, delivering a strong value proposition for our customers by providing tower infrastructure, power solutions and security at costs significantly below what they would achieve individually.

While our markets are among the most dynamic and high growth globally, they also present significant operational challenges due to the early-stage development of roads, power grids and infrastructure. We believe this not only creates an urgent need but also a compelling opportunity for high-quality operational execution and strategic investment to drive double-digit growth and attractive returns.

Our strategy is firmly centred on driving organic growth and ROIC expansion through a combination of best-in-class customer service, tenancy ratio expansion, operational efficiencies and leveraging technology. This year, more than ever, we have invested in and empowered our people to innovate, lead and fully embrace our culture of excellence.

I am pleased with our team's execution, and as we are now past the midpoint of our 2026 strategy, our headline target of a 2.2x tenancy ratio is firmly in sight. In both 2023 and 2024, we increased our tenancy ratio annually by 0.1x to reach 2.1x in 2024, supporting double-digit organic Adjusted EBITDA growth, ROIC expansion and material deleveraging. We target a continuation of these trends in 2025 and are firmly on track to achieve our 2026 goals.

In 2024, we also reached two major financial milestones - positive free cash flow and our 10th year of consecutive Adjusted EBITDA growth. These highlight the scale the Company has achieved and our robust and predictable business model.

Our progress is driven by long-term contractual partnerships with customers, which provide stable and de-risked exposure to our markets.

 

Accelerating growth through Customer Service Excellence

Our commitment to Customer Service Excellence spans our core services of power delivery, site management and rollout, as well as our proactive approach to anticipating and meeting our customers' needs.

Power uptime is one of our most critical customer service KPIs, and in 2024 we achieved a record of 99.99% uptime - among the best levels in the region - despite only having 17 hours of average daily grid availability. We successfully bridge this gap through a combination of solar panels, batteries and generators, combined with Lean Six Sigma principles and harnessing technology, such as remote monitoring systems.

With over 90% of mobile users in our markets relying on pay-as-you-go services, every second of downtime results in lost revenue for MNOs. That is why our 2026 target to achieve 30 seconds downtime per tower per week is business critical and I'm delighted that we achieved one minute 16 seconds in 2024, a 41% improvement year-on-year.

The speed at which we safely build new sites and get MNO networks running is another critical KPI for our customers. In 2024, we elevated our performance to new heights, installing BTS and colocations for our customers in record times of 114 days and 4 days, respectively, reflecting year-on-year improvements of 18% and 33%, respectively.

We are investing in digital solutions to enhance productivity, performance and efficiency. One example of this is how the predictive power of our proprietary Geographic Information System (GIS) is accelerating both customer service quality and ROIC expansion. We use GIS to identify how our existing portfolio can support our customers' network expansion or to position new sites for the highest lease-up potential. In 2024, we built 228 sites, principally in DRC and Tanzania, which we expect to support tenancy ratio expansion through to 2026. We typically target adding a second tenant onto BTS sites within two years, which is aided by GIS and supporting efficient mobile expansion.

We are exploring several additional digital and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives in 2025 and beyond to enhance our customer service and operational efficiency.

 

Elevating Performance through People and Business Excellence

Our second strategic pillar focuses on investing in talented people and improving our processes for efficiency. By empowering our people to reach their full potential, we drive progress in both Customer Service Excellence and Sustainable Value Creation pillars.

We do this by integrating Lean Six Sigma methodology across our organisation. This helps equip our teams to make data-driven decisions and systematically eliminate waste and inefficiencies from processes. In 2024, there were over 90 business excellence projects completed across the business focusing on areas such as cost efficiency, revenue generation and performance improvements - delivering tangible benefits with limited or no capital expenditure, as well as significant contribution to improving our customer service KPIs.

To deepen this impact, we are committed to training 70% of our team by 2026 in Lean Six Sigma, with 58% trained today, increasing by 5ppt year-on-year.

We also continued our commitment to developing the next generation of leaders at Helios Towers. At our third annual Executive Leadership Team (ELT) Conference, 55 of our leaders discussed our ambitions to capture the growth in Africa and the Middle East for the next 10 years. This was complemented by our continued investment in leadership training focusing on 'coaching for performance excellence' to build on last year's leadership themes of empowerment, ownership and accountability.

We are particularly proud that three of our leaders were nominated for the BQF UK Excellence Awards. Maixent Bekangba, Managing Director Congo Brazzaville & Regional Director, has been shortlisted in the 'Being Excellent: Emerging Leader' category while Lara Coady, Director of Operations and Engineering, and Gwakisa Stadi, Regional CEO East Africa, have been shortlisted in the 'Being Excellent: Established Leader' category.

 

Driving Sustainable Value Creation for all Stakeholders

The third pillar of our strategy, Sustainable Value Creation, integrates the successful outcomes of our first two pillars with our disciplined approach to capital allocation. This pillar is dedicated to creating value for our customers, people, partners, communities, investors and the environment.

I am delighted to report record organic tenancy additions of +2,481, exceeding our initial guidance of +1,600-2,100, notably through 813 tenancy additions in Oman. This growth reflects the outcome of our Customer Service Excellence pillar. Given the high proportion of colocation additions, our tenancy ratio expanded 0.14x to reach 2.05x - nearing our 2.2x by 2026 target.

Our site growth over the years has helped our population coverage surpass 151 million people, up from 144 million in 2023. To further improve digital inclusion in our communities, we are investing in long-term projects such as ICT labs to help young people gain digital skills for the first time.

Alongside colocations and highly selective BTS deployments, our capital allocation policy prioritises investments in operational efficiencies, given their attractive returns. Fuel remains our largest operating cost. As such, we continue to invest in low-carbon solutions, including grid connections, solar and hybrid batteries, with US$12 million deployed in 2024.

This investment, combined with tenancy growth, supported a 2% year-on-year decrease in carbon emissions per tenant. We have now invested US$33 million since 2022 out of the US$100 million earmarked for sustainable initiatives through to 2030. Through these initiatives we are saving fuel, delivering attractive ROIC and supporting carbon reductions. We expect this to support our revised target of 36% reduction in carbon emissions per tenant by 2030, compared to 2020 levels, across our nine markets.

We recognise the need to balance our sustainability value drivers, which often align but can sometimes conflict with one another. For example, new site and tenancy rollout, which is crucial to driving digital inclusion, will increase our carbon emissions in absolute terms while reducing overall mobile industry emissions through infrastructure-sharing.

Yet the social and economic impacts of connecting more people in our markets and closing the infrastructure gap are substantial - considering the EU has six times more towers per person than our markets. We therefore take a balanced approach to ensure that all factors and stakeholders are considered, when setting ambitious targets on how our business contributes to the environment and society.

 

Financial highlights

Through tenancy growth and operational investments, we achieved a 10% increase in revenue, a 14% increase in Adjusted EBITDA and a 66% growth in operating profit in 2024, the latter due to Adjusted EBITDA growth and an update to our tower asset depreciation policy from up to 15 years to up to 30 years. This performance, alongside lower finance costs and other factors, supported a profit after tax for the first time, of US$27.0 million.

Alongside continued growth, our 2.2x by 2026 strategy is also supporting a reduction in capital intensity, which led to ROIC expansion from 12.0% to 12.9%. This strategy also supported net leverage reducing from 4.4x to 4.0x and continuing its trend towards 3.0x by 2026.

 

We also strengthened our balance sheet through a US$850 million bond issuance to refinance our 2025 notes and partially repay our term facilities. This allowed us to extend our maturities by two years and increase our fixed-rate debt percentage to over 90%, with only a minimal increase in our cost of debt.

We were delighted to receive positive recognition from the rating agencies over the past year. In April 2024, Moody's upgraded us from B2 to B1, Fitch improved their outlook to B+ positive shortly after, and S&P upgraded us twice over the past year, assigning us our first BB- or equivalent in February 2025. These positive updates reflect a combination of our consistency, the improved free cash flow and strengthened credit profile.

 

Outlook

In 2024, we made continued progress towards our 2.2x by 2026 targets. Our continued improvements in rollout speed, power uptime and tenancy ratio expansion have supported mobile operators to deliver ever more reliable, expansive and sustainable mobile connectivity.

Looking ahead, we are focused on continued execution on our 2026 targets and aim for our 11th consecutive year of Adjusted EBITDA growth and further ROIC and free cash flow expansion. This will be supported by continuing to elevate our customers' experience, our talented local teams and our ongoing investment in digital solutions across the Group. We look forward to connecting more communities, delivering even more reliable mobile and driving sustainable value for all our stakeholders.

 

Tom Greenwood

Group CEO

 

Group CFO's statement

 

"We achieved two important financial milestones in 2024. It was our 10th consecutive year of Adjusted EBITDA growth, underscoring the structural growth in our markets combined with our robust and resilient business model.

In addition, free cash flow inflected positive, improving by US$100 million year-on-year through continued execution of our 2.2x tenancy ratio strategy which was designed to drive capital-efficient organic growth."

Manjit Dhillon

Group CFO

 

Our 2024 performance demonstrated the key areas of our investment case, reaffirming that Helios Towers is one of the best risk-adjusted ways to invest in African and Middle Eastern growth.

We delivered another year of over +2,400 tenancy additions, representing a 9% increase, driven by enduring structural dynamics that make our markets some of the fastest-growing in the world: low mobile penetration and a youthful, expanding population that demands better and more reliable mobile connectivity. We continue to capture a significant portion of this growth through our leading market positions, extensive site portfolio and commitment to best-in-class customer service.

The tenancy growth was largely through colocations, leveraging our strategically positioned portfolio and reflecting our disciplined approach to new site builds in locations with high likelihood of lease-up, which resulted in our tenancy ratio expanding from 1.91x to 2.05x. As site operating costs are largely fixed, colocations are highly accretive, with an average 80% Adjusted EBITDA margin flow-through. Accordingly, we saw Adjusted EBITDA increase by 14% year-on-year and ROIC increase by 1ppt to 12.9%.

 

Robust business model

We have now delivered 10 consecutive years of Adjusted EBITDA growth. Alongside the consistent tenancy growth, this is underpinned by our robust business model, which features highly visible hard-currency earnings and long-term contracts with a diverse group of blue-chip MNO customers, and our sustainable pricing strategy.

Hard-currency earnings: Overall, 71% of Adjusted EBITDA is denominated in hard currency. Four of our markets are innately hard currency, including DRC, Senegal, Oman and Congo Brazzaville, being either dollarised or pegged to the Euro, while the remaining markets also have a portion of revenues linked to hard currencies.

Additionally, our customer contracts include CPI and power price protections that limit the impact of macro volatility, ensuring that Adjusted EBITDA growth is driven almost wholly by tenancy growth and operational efficiencies, independent of macroeconomic factors beyond our control.

While 2024 presented another year of macroeconomic volatility, with a 4% increase in average fuel prices, a 5% rise in average CPI and a 6% depreciation of local currencies against the dollar, our Adjusted EBITDA grew by 14% year-on-year. Since 2015, the correlation between tenancy additions and Adjusted EBITDA growth, as measured by R-squared, has been 0.96 - meaning an almost perfect correlation which is exactly how we designed the Company mechanics.

Long-term contracts: Our contracts have an initial term of 10 to 15 years and are largely non-cancellable. Today, our contracted revenue of US$5.1 billion has an average remaining initial life of 6.9 years - in other words, we have secured a minimum revenue of US$5.1 billion in total without pursuing any new business - providing a strong underlying earnings stream that we complement with further growth driven by tenancy rollout.

Customer mix: 98% of our revenue is from blue-chip MNOs, with no single customer accounting for more than 26% of our revenue. Furthermore, we continued to ensure that our relationships with our customers are sustainable, as we offer competitive lease rates that are about 30% lower than the MNOs' overall cost of ownership.

These key dynamics have ensured stability in our earnings stream and we can sustainably capture the exciting growth in our markets for the long term, as reflected in our operational and financial performance.

 

Our performance in 2024

We achieved organic tenancy additions of +2,481, significantly surpassing our initial guidance of +1,600-2,100, primarily due to higher-than- expected colocation growth in our newest market, Oman. Consequently, our tenancy ratio increased by 0.14x, from 1.91x to 2.05x, progressing towards our target of 2.2x by 2026.

Our tenancy additions translated into strong financial results. Revenue rose by 10% to US$792.0 million (2023: US$721.0 million), while Adjusted EBITDA grew by 14% to US$421.0 million. Our Adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 2ppt year-on-year, from 51.3% to 53.2%, reflecting margin-accretive tenancy growth.

 

In terms of profitability, Group operating profit reached a record US$242.3 million, marking a 66% year-on-year increase, driven by Adjusted EBITDA growth and lower depreciation following an update to our tower asset depreciation policy from up to 15 years to up to 30 years.

We are pleased to report our first profit after tax of US$27.0 million, supported by operating profit growth, lower net finance costs and a benefit from a one-off tax credit.

 

Cash flow

We were delighted to outperform expectations on key cash flow metrics.

Recurring levered free cash flow (RLFCF), which reflects the cash generated that we can deploy for growth and/ or returning to investors, increased by 59% to US$147.9 million. This significant increase was attributed to Adjusted EBITDA growth and improved working capital.

Free cash flow, which also accounts for discretionary capex, was US$18.7 million in 2024 and exceeded our neutral target for the year. This significant year-on-year improvement of US$99.8 million reflected the execution of our capital allocation policy focused on capital-efficient organic growth.

Growth capex, the largest component of our discretionary capex, which includes new BTS, colocations and operational efficiency investments, decreased by 18% year-on-year. The decline was driven by lower site additions of 228 in 2024 (2023: 544), as we focused on colocations while being selective with BTS sites that have high lease-up potential.

Statutory cash generated from operations increased by 25% to a record US$397.2 million (2023: US$318.5 million) driven by higher Adjusted EBITDA, lower deal costs and improved working capital management.

 

Balance sheet

We take a proactive and opportunistic approach to balance sheet management. Over the past two years, we have successfully refinanced our debt with minimal increase in our cost of debt despite the broader macro environment.

In May 2024, we successfully refinanced with a new US$850 million five-year bond at a 7.50% coupon. Despite a materially higher Fed funds rate since our last bond issuance, our cost of debt only increased by 10 basis points (bps) year-on-year, and we extended our weighted average maturities by two years. The refinanced bond also marked the tightest ever spread for the Company, with a reduction of c.350bps over US Treasuries compared to the 2025 notes. The orderbook was three times oversubscribed, allowing us to upsize from the US$675 million target to US$850 million, making this the Company's largest ever single issuance.

Our success was underpinned by our strategic planning, which involved executing our debt liability management in September 2023 to mitigate the risk at an earlier stage. However, the successful execution of this deal was ultimately driven by our strong performance track record, market diversification and cash flow generation, as evidenced by the rating upgrades by Moody's and S&P to B+ equivalent and the positive outlook change by Fitch, and a subsequent second rating upgrade by S&P to BB- within a year, in February 2025.

This successful refinancing means that we have no Group debt maturing until 2027, and with over 90% of it being fixed rate, we have a predominantly fixed finance cost base to leverage as we continue to grow our Adjusted EBITDA.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our debt investors again for their support in the refinancing of our bonds.

Alongside refinancing, we have further improved our credit profile via deleveraging through growing Adjusted EBITDA and decreasing net debt. We are pleased to have concluded the year with net leverage just below 4.00x at 3.98x, aligning with the expectations set at the start of the year. With the anticipated Adjusted EBITDA growth ahead, we are optimistic about trending towards 3.50x in 2025.

 

Capital allocation

We consistently look for and invest in capital-efficient organic opportunities that are accretive to growing ROIC and/or supporting maintaining or decreasing our cost of capital. Over the past three years, we increased our ROIC by 3ppt while keeping cost of debt stable through balance sheet management.

We have a strong platform and are committed to investing further in our markets to serve our customers and tap into the phenomenal market growth.

Our near-term focus for capital allocation remains on maximising returns through highly selective organic investments and deleveraging the business.

 

Outlook

With our business model once again proving effective in volatile periods, we remain committed to maintaining strong financial discipline and consistently delivering value for our customers as well as other stakeholders.

We have made significant strides in expanding our tenancy ratio and ROIC, while also successfully managing our balance sheet. We expect to deliver more of the same in 2025: strong Adjusted EBITDA growth, compounding free cash flow and ROIC expansion.

With net leverage decreasing further, targeting c.3.5x in 2025, we expect to soon have the financial flexibility to consider returning excess capital to shareholders. We look forward to updating you in due course.

 

Manjit Dhillon

Group CFO

 

Alternative Performance Measures

 

The Group has presented a number of Alternative Performance Measures (APMs), which are used in addition to IFRS statutory performance measures.

 

The Group believes that these APMs, which are not considered to be a substitute for or superior to IFRS measures, provide stakeholders with additional helpful information on the performance of the business. These APMs are consistent with how the business performance is planned and reported within the internal management reporting to the Board. Some of these measures are also used for the purpose of setting remuneration targets. These APMs may not be comparable to similarly titled measures disclosed by other companies.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin

 

Definition

Management defines Adjusted EBITDA as profit/(loss) before tax for the year, adjusted for finance costs, other gains and losses, interest receivable, loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment, amortisation of intangible assets, depreciation and impairment of property, plant and equipment, depreciation of right-of-use assets, deal costs for aborted acquisitions, deal costs not capitalised, share-based payments and long-term incentive plan charges, and other adjusting items. Other adjusting items are material items that are considered one-off by management by virtue of their size and/or incidence.

Adjusted EBITDA margin is calculated as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue.

Purpose

The Group believes that Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin facilitate comparisons of operating performance from period to period and company to company by eliminating potential differences caused by variations in capital structures (affecting interest and finance charges), tax positions (such as the impact of changes in effective tax rates or net operating losses) and the age and booked depreciation of assets. The Group excludes certain items from Adjusted EBITDA, such as loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment and other adjusting items because it believes they facilitate a better understanding of the Group's underlying trading performance.