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Nigeria-based telecom infrastructure group IHS Towers has posted a loss of $30 million at the end of the third quarter of its 2021 financial period, which ended on Sept. 30, despite an eight-percent increase in its revenue for the period.
IHS Towers is the largest telecom infrastructure group in Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East by tower count and the third-largest independent multinational tower company globally.
Its recent third-quarter financial report represents the group’s first financial filing as a listed entity following the completion of its $378-million IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 14.
The leading infrastructure firm founded by U.S. telecom tycoon Sam Darwish revealed that the $30-million loss was 20.02-percent more than the $20.02 million in losses reported in 2020.
The loss during Q3 2021 can be linked to its IPO cost following its transition into a publicly listed company, coupled with increased administrative expenses and higher sales and power-generation costs.
In addition, an increase in the impairment of property, plant, equipment and prepaid land rentals, stemming from a $37.8-million increase from its Nigeria operations, also contributed to the loss.
Despite the Q3 losses, IHS Towers was able to rebound from the $372.9 million in losses reported in the nine-month period of 2020 to post a profit of $46.16 million in the first nine months of its current financial year.
Darwish, the CEO of IHS Towers, explained that the group was able to improve its revenue through investments in ancillary telecom infrastructure technologies, such as small cells, DAS and fiber.
He added that the group’s diversification strategy remains an important focus, as evidenced by the TIM fiber transaction and its entry last month into Egypt through a licensed partnership.
A few days ago, IHS Towers announced that it has also finalized the acquisition of passive tower infrastructure from MTN South Africa.
The transaction will see IHS Towers take over 12,800 sites, including 7,100 third-party sites in South Africa, in addition to the 5,709 towers directly linked to the transaction.
As of press time, Nov. 23, shares in the leading telecom infrastructure group were trading at $14.91, 67-basis points lower than its opening price on the NYSE this morning.
