Reaching US$307.9 million, the colocation tower owner and operator said the results were driven by continued growth in the number of colocation tower sites and tenancies across the group.
Elsewhere in the results, group revenues for the quarter increased by 1% and adjusted EBITDA for the first three quarters increased by 10% year on year to $166.5 million. The Q3 2020 adjusted EBITDA increased by 4% quarter-on-quarter to US$57.4 million.
“I think we are very much on track regarding revenues and EBITDA and where we want to end up for the rest of the year is broadly on consensus as well,” said Manjit Dhillon, interim chief financial officer, Helios Towers.
“We are incredibly happy with the actual evolution of our revenues over the course of this year,” he added, continuing to say the company was “very much on track” for 2020, despite the operational disruptions created by Covid-19.
Helios runs a colocation tower model across five markets currently, allowing multiple operators to share infrastructure for operational and environmental efficiency. Backed by George Soros, the company listed in October 2019, raising $364 million on its first day of trading.
Following targeted guidance issued pre-Covid, which planned for 1,500 to 2,000 new tenancies this year, Helios has revised the figure and is now on track to add 1,000 new tenancies by the deadline.
“It’s the lower end of the range but nonetheless within it … That’s really positive because it shows not only the robust nature of our business but also the robust nature of the sector more broadly and telecoms growth across Africa,” he added.
In August, Helios signed an agreement with Free Senegal to acquire more than 1,200 sites for €160 million, marking the firm’s sixth market entrance.
Commenting on the operational environment across the continent, group COO Tom Greenwood said the company noted “record” operational uptime of 99.99% in recent months.
He said: “Most of our markets have had lockdowns. Our business, telecom tower infrastructure, is classed in all markets as an essential service. Our field teams who keep sites running, they’re all essential workers, and we have had our record levels of up time over the last few months.”
Commenting on the vast rural landscape and the challenges that has posed to maintenance and uptime in the past, Greenwood added: “That would be one of the major differences about Africa – it’s just the inherent bigger challenges of operating across wide areas. You need that capability and people with experiences, processes and systems in place to deal with all that.
“We are lucky enough to spend many years providing that and we have provided our customers with really great service for many years,” he added.
Looking ahead, Helios Towers is on track to close its acquisition of Free Senegal by Q1, 2021.
