Helios Towers (HTWS) CMD 2025 summary

Strategic direction and future plans

• Launching IMPACT 2030 strategy, targeting capital-efficient organic growth, sector-leading lease-up, and customer experience excellence, with a focus on compounding cash flow and value creation over the next five years.

• Aiming for over 42,000 tenancies and a tenancy ratio above 2.5x by 2030, with 15%-20% ROIC and $1.3+ billion cumulative recurring free cash flow from 2026 to 2030.

• Plans to invest over $500 million in discretionary capex and return over $400 million to investors by 2030, including a $250 million share buyback and $150 million in dividends.

• Expanding into tower-like ancillaries such as smart street structures and edge data centers to support 4G/5G rollout, leveraging existing expertise for new revenue streams.

• Committed to continuous operational improvement, digitalization, and sustainability, including reducing diesel dependency and investing in solar and battery solutions.

Financial guidance and performance

• Achieved 10 consecutive years of EBITDA growth at a 24% CAGR, with 2024 EBITDA guidance at $470 million and free cash flow expected to exceed $60 million.

• FY25 guidance tightened: c.2,500 tenancy adds, c.$470m Adj. EBITDA, $160–180m capex, and >$60m free cash flow, with net leverage at c.3.5x.

• 71% of EBITDA is in hard currency, supported by long-term contracts with blue-chip, investment-grade customers, and $5.5 billion in contracted revenue with an average remaining life of 6.7 years.

• Inflation and power price escalators in contracts mitigate macroeconomic risks, with 97% of EBITDA growth since 2021 driven by business performance.

• Targeting over 9% annual EBITDA CAGR and 6%+ annual tenancy growth through 2030, driven by market demand, lease-up, and operational efficiencies.

Operational excellence and innovation

• Lean Six Sigma and digitalization embedded across the business, with 70% of staff to be trained by next year, driving process efficiency and continuous improvement.

• Proprietary GIS system supports lease-up and site optimization, contributing to tenancy ratio expansion and incremental revenue.

• Achieved 99.99% power uptime and reduced average downtime per tower from over four minutes in 2022 to one minute in 2025, targeting 10 seconds by 2030.

• Standardized tower designs and strong partner engagement enable rapid, high-quality rollout and maintenance, supporting market leadership and customer satisfaction.

• Ongoing focus on sustainability, with a 37% reduction in diesel emissions per tenant on multi-tenant towers.