IHS Towers, through key shareholder Wendel Group, today announced its Q1 2021 results, which provided updates on the company’s tower count, portfolio metrics, and pending acquisition of fiber assets in Brazil.
Operations Overview – IHS Towers
IHS Towers’ total portfolio comprised 29.3k owned and managed towers as of Q1 2021. During Q1 2021, IHS Towers grew its tower count by 1.5k towers or 5.3% from 27.8k at year-end 2020, primarily through acquisition.
Firstly, IHS Towers added 1.0k sites in Brazil, after closing its acquisition of Skysites in January 2021. Secondly, IHS Towers bolstered its portfolio by 217 sites in Colombia, after closing its acquisition of Centennial Towers’ Colombian tower operations in March 2021.
However, at quarter-end IHS Towers’ portfolio did not include Centennial Towers’ 602 sites in Brazil, which closed in April 2021. Therefore, IHS Towers’ portfolio, as of mid-May 2021, comprises 29.9k sites.
Key Markets by Tower Count
Overall, the company’s top five markets by tower count include Nigeria (16.5k towers), Brazil (3.9k towers), Côte d’Ivoire (2.7k towers), Cameroon (2.2k towers), and Zambia (1.8k towers). IHS Towers’ 29.3k towers have a tenancy ratio of 1.51x, equating to 44.2k tenants with equipment on the company’s towers.
Financial Performance in Q1 2021 – IHS Towers
In Q1 2021, IHS Towers generated revenue of $362m, up $29m or 8.7%, from $333m in Q1 2020. Additionally, IHS Towers’ organic revenue growth rate in Q1 2021 was 14.6% year-over-year.
Organic revenue growth was driven by new tenancies, new lease amendments, and inflationary rental escalators. Furthermore, from a geographic perspective, organic growth was 10%+ in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.
IHS Acquires 51% of TIM SA’s FiberCo
In May 2021, IHS Towers entered into an agreement with TIM SA, a wireless carrier in Brazil, to acquire a 51% interest in FiberCo Soluções de Infraestrutura Ltda (FiberCo), which includes TIM SA’s fiber assets.
Upon completion, FiberCo’s assets will include TIM SA’s secondary network infrastructure, covering 6.4 million households. Of this total, 3.5 million passings are fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and 3.5 million are fiber-to-the-cabinet (FTTC). Notably, the 6.4 million total households metric incorporates an overlap of coverage between FTTH and FTTC of 577k homes.
