Helios Towers reports stronger first-half growth and upgrades full-year guidance

Helios Towers Plc (LON:HTWS) has announced results for the six months to 30 June 2026, highlighting record tenancy growth, improved financial performance and an upgraded full-year outlook.

Tom Greenwood, Chief Executive Officer, said:

“I am delighted with our first-half performance, which reflects a strong start to our IMPACT 2030 strategy. We have delivered record tenancy growth, driving financial performance ahead of expectations, while maintaining our disciplined approach to capital allocation. Alongside investing in highly accretive organic opportunities, we have continued to execute our share buyback programme and are pleased to announce our inaugural dividend, marking another important milestone in our commitment to delivering sustainable shareholder returns.

Looking ahead, we are well positioned to deliver another record year. Our tenancy pipeline remains strong, providing excellent visibility into the second half and underpinning our confidence to further upgrade our FY 2026 financial and operational guidance. We remain on track to achieve record organic tenancy growth, deliver over $75 million to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends¹, while continuing to reduce leverage, reinforcing the strength of our business model.

The long-term opportunity for Helios Towers has never been more compelling. Rising smartphone adoption, rapid growth in data consumption, expanding digital services and AI-enabled applications continue to drive sustained investment in mobile networks across Africa and the Middle East, creating a multi-decade growth runway for our infrastructure. With leading market positions, world-class operational capabilities and disciplined capital allocation, we are uniquely positioned to capture this demand, compound long-term cash flows and deliver attractive returns for shareholders for years to come.”

1  Reflects target of US$51m share buyback to complete current US$75m Board authorisation and US$25m dividend. Dividend expected to be paid 1/3 in FY 2026 and 2/3 in H1 2027 in respect of the final FY 2026 dividend.

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

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

Financial highlights

Strong financial performance driven by tenancy growth, underpinned by a base of contracted revenues with embedded contractual CPI and power price protections

• Revenue increased by 11% year-on-year to US$466.3m (H1 2025: US$418.3m), largely driven by tenancy growth
• Adjusted EBITDA increased by 14% year-on-year to US$257.0m (H1 2025: US$225.5m), driven by tenancy growth, principally colocations, and operational efficiencies
• Adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 1ppt year-on-year to 55% (H1 2025: 54%), driven by margin accretive tenancy ratio expansion
• Operating profit increased by 22% year-on-year to US$162.9m (H1 2025: US$133.1m), driven by Adjusted EBITDA growth and lower site depreciation
• Profit for the period is US$21.7m compared to a profit of US$30.9m in H1 2025. The growth in Adjusted EBITDA was offset by an increase in non-cash foreign exchange movements within finance costs
• Basic earnings per share decreased broadly in line with the decrease in profit for the period to 1.9 cents (H1 2025: 2.9 cents)
• Adjusted basic earnings per share was 5.2 cents (H1 2025: 0.5 cents) reflecting Adjusted EBITDA growth and lower site depreciation
• Business underpinned by record future contracted revenues of US$5.9bn, of which 98% is from large multinational mobile network operators and c.70% is from investment grade customers, with an average remaining initial life of 6.5 years

Disciplined & flexible capital allocation

Capital allocation framework delivering high incremental returns and shareholder distributions

• ROIC expanded by 0.8ppt year-on-year to 14.4%, driven by tenancy ratio expansion
• Recurring free cash flow increased by 52% year-on-year to US$105.8m (H1 2025: US$69.5m), driven by Adjusted EBITDA growth
• Basic recurring free cash flow per share increased by 55% to 10.2 cents (H1 2025: 6.6 cents)
• Cash generated from operations decreased by 16% from US$216.0m to US$182.2m. This was predominantly driven by movements in working capital, partly offset by Adjusted EBITDA growth
• Discretionary capital additions were US$101.7m during H1 2026, driven by 2,511 tenancy additions year-to-date, including 524 sites
• Sites and tenancies concluded at 15,270 and 34,455 respectively, with a tenancy ratio of 2.26x (FY 2025: 2.17x)
• US$27m of share buybacks completed in H1 2026 and a further US$7m completed to 24 July 2026, bringing cumulative share buybacks to US$58m since the programme commenced in November 2025
• An inaugural interim dividend has been approved by the Board of 0.604p (gross) per ordinary share of 1p nominal value for H1 2026, payable to ordinary shareholders on 14 September 2026. Further details are provided later in the release
• Net leverage decreased by 0.4x year-on-year to 3.4x driven by Adjusted EBITDA growth
• In February 2026, the Group’s credit rating was upgraded by Moody’s from B1 to Ba3, reflecting consistently strong performance and updated financial policy
• In April 2026, the Group refinanced its 2028 Term Loan through the issuance of US$500m 6.750% senior notes, maturing in 2031
• This transaction reduced the Group’s cost of debt by c.40bps to 6.7% and extended average maturities by one year
• In May 2026, the Group raised a US$250m 3 year Term Loan to manage its 2027 Convertible Bond and for general corporate purposes, which remains undrawn

2026 Outlook and guidance

• The Group has a strong site and tenancy pipeline from large multinational mobile network operators, underpinning a further upgrade to FY 2026 guidance:
• 3,500-4,000 tenancy additions (prior: 3,000-3,500)
• Uplift of 500 tenancies, including c.250 sites
• Adjusted EBITDA of US$520m-US$535m (prior: US$515m-US$530m), with US$5m uplift expected in FY 2026 due to timing of roll-out
• Incremental tenancies are expected to deliver >US$10m annualised Adjusted EBITDA from FY 2027
• Recurring free cash flow of US$220m-US$235m (prior: US$215m-US$230m)
• Capital allocation targets:
• Discretionary capex¹ of US$215m-US$245m (prior: US$180m-US$210m), an uplift of US$35m for incremental tenancies
• Share buyback² of US$51m (unchanged)
• Dividend³ of US$25m (unchanged)

1          Discretionary includes acquisitions, growth and upgrade capex.

2          Reflects the remaining balance of the Board-approved US$75m buyback authorisation after US$24m repurchased in FY 2025.

3          Reflects the FY 2026 fiscal dividend, intended to be paid 1/3 in FY 2026 and 2/3 in FY 2027.