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 $67.3 million in operating profit, more than doubled from $33.0 million a year prior. It swung to a pretax profit of $15.2 million, from a loss of $25.1 million a year prior.

Revenue rose 14% to $194.6 million from $170.8 million.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 21% to $102.2 million from $84.7 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 $405 million to $420 million. In 2023, Helios delivered $370 million in adjusted Ebitda, up 31% from $283 million the previous year.

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