Helios Towers PLC on Thursday posted a widened loss for 2021 in spite of revenue growth driven by increased tenancies, as the bottom line was hit by higher finance costs related to capital raised for acquisitions in Senegal and Madagascar.

Shares in Helios Towers were down 5.9% at 127.20 pence on Thursday in London.

For 2021, the Africa-focused mobile phone tower developer posted a pretax loss of $119.4 million, widened from $20.9 million the year before.

This was due to an increase in finance costs through the raising of capital to support acquisitions during the year, and a higher interest cost on $250 million in bonds issued in March 2021, which are due 2027.

In May, Helios closed the acquisition of Free Senegal’s passive infrastructure assets, and in November had completed the acquisition of Airtel Africa PLC’s tower company in Madagascar.

Looking ahead, Helios Towers said it expects to continue reporting losses in the near term, as it integrates the assets it bought.

However, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 6.2% to $240.6 million last year from $226.6 million in 2020.

Revenue grew 8.5% in 2021 to $449.1 million from $414.0 million in 2020, through the acquisition of tower portfolios and continued organic tenancy growth.

The number of tenancies in 2021 increased 20% to 18,776, while the number of sites rose 30% to 9,560.

Helios Towers did not declare a dividend, in line with 2020, citing the scale of the investment opportunities in its pipeline and its plans to invest in its current businesses as well as expand into new markets.

‘However, given our expectations for the future growth of the business and improving free cash flow, there may be scope to pay a dividend in the medium term,’ the company stated.

Looking ahead, Helios Towers has raised its guidance for organic tenancy additions to between 1,200 and 1,700, up from 1,000 to 1,500 previously. Also for existing markets, the group is targeting $160 million to $200 million in capital expenditure outside of acquisitions in 2022.

For 2022, Helios Towers intends to deploy around $650 million on acquisitions, reflecting deals in Oman and Malawi, and deferred payments in Senegal and Madagascar.

‘I am delighted with the team’s performance over the past year. We delivered record site and tenancy additions, as a result of one of our best ever years of organic tenancy growth complemented by two acquisitions closed in the year. We also continued to reduce our cost of capital and combined with the announced acquisitions targeted to close in 2022, we have positioned the company well for high-quality growth and returns going forward,’ said Chief Executive Officer Kash Pandya.

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