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UK-listed operator of telecom towers across Africa, leasing space to mobile network operators.
UK-listed operator of telecom towers across Africa, leasing space to mobile network operators.
Signs long master lease agreements, often ten years or more, with annual increases and pass-through of energy costs at off-grid sites, so revenue is largely contracted, and adds income when another operator takes space on a tower already built.
In one line: An African-focused American Tower / Crown Castle.
Moat: narrow (installed base, scale, regulatory licence). Owns hard-to-permit tower sites with long-term leases and multiple tenants per tower.
Headquarters: London, UK · Founded: 2010 · Employees: 735
Size Helios Towers (HTWS.L) is a United Kingdom Communication Services company (Specialty Telecommunications) with a market value of $3.05B, the 132nd largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £220.60 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 7.7%, against -2.9% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 9th lowest of 19 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 6.0% over the last twelve months (peer median +4.5%); the operating margin is 36.2% (peer median 14.1%).
Valuation It trades at 30.1× forward earnings against a peer median of 19.7× (8th most expensive of 16).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 13% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +15%, so the hurdle is -2 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.2 points above its cost of capital (10.3% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 18 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £672M | £648M | £620M | £580M | £455M |
| Revenue growth | — | +5% | +7% | +27% | — |
| Gross profit | £332M | £305M | £273M | £191M | £142M |
| EBITDA | £369M | £352M | £326M | £295M | £226M |
| Net income | £21.0M | £29.7M | £26.2M | -£80.5M | -£139M |
| Free cash flow | £48.0M | £68.7M | £44.7M | -£35.2M | -£155M |
| Capital expenditure | £125M | £141M | £121M | £158M | £201M |
| Total debt | n/a | £1.48B | £1.55B | £1.48B | £1.49B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helios Towers HTWS.L | $3.05B | -8% | +6% | 36% | 30.1× | 13.4% |
| American Tower AMT | $87.6B | +8% | +5% | 44% | 27.8× | n/a |
| IHS IHS | $2.85B | +2% | -10% | 33% | 7.9× | -8.3% |
| Crown Castle CCI | $37.7B | -1% | -16% | 48% | 31.6× | n/a |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | HTWS.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +1.9% | +0.9% | 9th highest of 19 |
| 6-month return | -7.7% | -2.9% | 9th lowest of 19 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -10.9% | -22.1% | 3rd highest of 19 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +6.0% | +4.5% | 9th highest of 19 |
| Operating margin | 36.2% | 14.1% | 4th highest of 18 |
| Forward P/E | 30.1× | 19.7× | 8th most expensive of 16 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 13.4% | 7.2% | 3rd most demanding of 14 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +15.0% | +6.5% | 3rd highest of 14 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -1.6 pp | -3.7 pp | 6th most demanding of 14 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +2.2 pp | +0.0 pp | 6th highest of 18 |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.0× | 8.8× | 6th most expensive of 14 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.7× | 1.1× | 4th most indebted of 14 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helios Towers HTWS.L | United Kingdom | $3.05B | -8% | +6% | 36% | 30.1× | 13.4% | +15.0% |
| freenet FNTN.DE | Germany | $3.06B | -7% | +10% | 14% | 11.4× | -11.3% | -1.1% |
| PLDT, Inc. Sponsored ADR PHI | United States | $3.88B | -11% | -2% | 22% | 8.7× | -2.9% | +0.8% |
| U-NEXT 9418.T | Japan | $2.04B | +17% | +20% | 6% | 17.6× | 0.4% | +17.7% |
| Iridium Communications IRDM | United States | $4.68B | +6% | +4% | 19% | 64.8× | 21.0% | +8.4% |
| 1&1 1U1.DE | Germany | $5.79B | +7% | +8% | 3% | 34.4× | 12.5% | +1.8% |
| ASR Microelectronics 688220.SS | China | $6.56B | +6% | +28% | 1% | 170.1× | n/a | n/a |
| StarHub CC3.SI | Singapore | $1.41B | +4% | -8% | 5% | 48.0× | 7.2% | +3.0% |
| Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane INW.MI | Italy | $7.39B | +1% | +1% | 53% | 19.4× | 8.2% | +10.2% |
| CITIC Telecom International 1883.HK | Hong Kong | $1.14B | -14% | 0% | 12% | 9.2× | -10.5% | +1.4% |
| Guomai Technologies 002093.SZ | China | $1.08B | -14% | +3% | 24% | n/a | 11.7% | +6.5% |
| Guangzhou Frontop Digital Creative Technology 301313.SZ | China | $1.02B | +90% | +1% | -31% | 93.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Ituran Location and Control ITRN | United States | $987M | -18% | +16% | 22% | 12.9× | -3.4% | +7.9% |
| Aussie Broadband ABB.AX | Australia | $968M | -13% | +9% | 7% | 14.7× | 13.1% | +29.9% |
| Net263 002467.SZ | China | $939M | -33% | +14% | -29% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| cyber_Folks CBF.WA | Poland | $899M | +8% | +27% | n/a | 40.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Macquarie Technology MAQ.AX | Australia | $890M | -34% | +6% | 15% | 58.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) TTML.NS | India | $824M | -11% | -1% | 44% | n/a | 22.7% | +2.1% |
| Chief Telecom 6561.TWO | Taiwan | $796M | +2% | -1% | 39% | 19.7× | -0.7% | +9.0% |