(Alliance News) - Helios Towers PLC on Thursday posted a swing to profit in its first quarter, as strong operational and financial progress increased the company's confidence in achieving its targets for the full year.

Helios Towers is a London-headquartered telecom tower company. Shares in Helios were up 13% at 124.34 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

For the three months ended March 31, Helios reported USD67.3 million in operating profit, more than doubled from USD33.0 million a year prior. It swung to a pretax profit of USD15.2 million, from a loss of USD25.1 million a year prior.

Revenue rose 14% to USD194.6 million from USD170.8 million.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 21% to USD102.2 million from USD84.7 million.

Helios also reported a 3.5% increase in total sites to 14,166 from 13,684 a year prior, and a 10% annual increase in tenancies to 27,686 from 25,120.

Chief Executive Officer Tom Greenwood said: "We have started the year well, continuing the momentum from 2023 to deliver strong operational and financial performance with revenue and adjusted Ebitda increasing 14% and 21% year-on-year respectively. This was one of our strongest quarters for tenancy additions, supporting tenancy ratio expansion to close to 2.0x and towards our 2026 target of 2.2x."

As a result, Helios reaffirmed its full-year guidance.

Helios expects to achieve organic tenancy additions of between 1,600 and 2,100 in 2024.

Adjusted Ebitda is forecast at USD405 million to USD420 million. In 2023, Helios delivered USD370 million in adjusted Ebitda, up 31% from USD283 million the previous year.

By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter

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