IHS Holding Ltd. (IHS) has reported a pre-tax profit of $236.35 million in its fourth quarter of 2024, a significant turnaround from the pre-tax loss of $438.41 million recorded in the same period last year.
The telecommunications infrastructure company generated $437.82 million in revenue for Q4 2024, compared to $509.78 million in Q4 2023, reflecting a decline in top-line performance.
However, despite the quarterly profitability, full-year 2024 results show a pre-tax loss of $1.61 billion, translating to a loss per share of $4.90. Annual revenue came in at $1.71 billion, down from $2.13 billion in 2023.
Key Highlights: (2024 FY vs. 2023 FY)
- Revenue: $1.711 billion -19.48% YoY
- Cost of sales: $890.533 million -24.74% YoY
- Adjusted EBITDA: $928.4 million -18.02% YoY
- Administrative expenses: $429.818 million, +5.40% YoY
- Operating income: $479.147 million -9.71%
- Finance Income: $33.747 million +33.87% YoY
- Finance cost: $2.123 billion -12.88% YoY
- Loss for the period: $1.644 billion -17.30% YoY
- Income loss per share: $4.90 -17.37% YoY
- Cash and cash equivalents: $577.956 million +96.70% YoY
- Total assets: $4.277 billion -20.28% YoY
- Total equity: -$295.809 million -185.16% YoY
CEO’s Statement
San Darwish, Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, commented on the results:
“We are reporting a strong performance in the fourth quarter, with our key metrics revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and ALFCF all ahead of our guidance, while Total Capex was below expectations, and we saw a drop in our consolidated net leverage ratio.
We believe our positive momentum reflects both the continued strong secular trends we are seeing across our business, a more stable macroeconomic environment, as well as the significant commercial and financial progress we have made during 2024 as part of our ongoing strategic review.”
Financial highlights:
Full-year 2024 revenue declined by 19.48% but increased 48.1% on an organic basis, primarily due to the 57% devaluation of the Nigerian Naira, which had a non-core impact on results.
Organic growth was driven by:
- 6.5% Constant Currency growth, fueled by continued revenue gains from Colocation, Lease Amendments, and New Sites.
- Additional contributions from FX resets and power indexation.
Full-year loss totaled $1.644 billion, of which $1.610 billion was attributable to unrealized FX losses.
Nigeria’s role in performance
Nigeria remained a key revenue and EBITDA driver for IHS Holding:
- In Q4 2024, Nigeria contributed 59% ($258.87 million) to the group’s total quarterly revenue of $437.82 million.
- However, revenue from Nigeria fell by 19% YoY, driven by the Naira’s devaluation against the U.S. dollar.
- Nigeria also accounted for 63% ($154.87 million) of the group’s quarterly EBITDA of $246.37 million in Q4 2024.
- Despite Nigeria’s continued significance, quarterly revenue declined by 14.1%.
About IHS Towers
IHS Towers is one of the world’s largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure by tower count.
The company operates in eight emerging markets, with a portfolio of over 39,000 towers across:
- Africa: Nigeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia.
- Latin America: Brazil and Colombia.