Helios Towers | Highlights

Key highlights (FY 2019)

Full year Group revenue increased by 9% year-on-year to US$388m (2018: US$356m), driven by the continued growth in the number of sites and tenancies across the Group.
- Q4 2019 Group revenue increased by 3% to US$100m (Q3 2019: US$97m).
Full year Adjusted EBITDA increased by 16% year-on-year to US$205m (2018: US$178m), reflecting both tenancy growth and continued improvements in operational efficiency, with the Adjusted EBITDA margin expanding to 53% (2018: 50%), up 3ppts.
- Q4 2019 Adjusted EBITDA increased by 2% to US$54m (Q3 2019: US$52m), the 20th consecutive quarter of Adjusted EBITDA growth.
Operating loss was US$-5m in 2019, decreasing by US$-8m year-on-year (2018: US$3m). Operating loss in 2019 included US$63m of exceptional items, deal costs and non-cash costs related to our continued site consolidation programme (2018: US$32m).
Net debt at 31 December 2019 of US$627m (2018: US$657m), resulting in net leverage of 2.9x as of 31 December 2019 (31 December 2018: 3.5x).

Number of tenants increased by 8% year-on-year to 14,591 tenants (2018: 13,549). Q4 tenancy number increased by 3% (Q3 2019: 14,226).
Number of sites increased by 3% year-on-year to 6,974 total sites (2018: 6,745). Q4 number of sites increased by 1% (Q3 2019: 6,903).
Tenancy ratio increased by 0.08x to 2.09x (2018: 2.01x). Q4 tenancy ratio increased by 0.03x (Q3 2019: 2.06x).
In March 2019, the Group entered the South African market through a partnership with Vulatel to create Helios Towers South Africa; and through the subsequent acquisition of SA Towers in May, delivering a pipeline of over 500 sites.
On 18 October 2019 Helios Towers was admitted to the premium segment of the Official List and trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
The Company continues to monitor markets to determine an adequate window for a potential refinancing of its existing capital structure through an issuance of notes. The refinancing is also expected to consist of a new revolving credit facility in an amount up to US$70m and a new US$200 term loan to be used for inorganic growth opportunities and general corporate purposes.