Solid Start to 2026 With Continued Revenue Growth and ALFCF Generation

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–IHS Holding Limited (NYSE: IHS) (“IHS Towers” or the “Company”), one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world by tower count, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026.

CONSOLIDATED HIGHLIGHTS – FIRST QUARTER 2026

The table below sets forth the select financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2026, and 2025:

Financial Highlights

• Revenue from continuing operations of $415.4 million (which excludes revenue of $51.8 million for the Latam segment presented within discontinued operations) increased 6.0% year-on-year, despite a 3.7% inorganic revenue headwind from the disposal of the Company’s Rwanda operations in October 2025
• Organic revenue declined 1.7% despite Constant Currency^(d) revenue increasing 3.7%, as growth was offset by reduced revenue related to foreign exchange (“FX”) resets and power indexation. Constant Currency growth was driven by higher revenue from Colocation, Lease Amendments, New Sites and escalators. The organic and inorganic declines were more than offset at the reported level by an 11.4% benefit from favorable FX movements used to translate the results of our operations, including the Nigerian Naira (“NGN” or “Naira”) versus the U.S. dollar (“USD”)
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 6.4% year-on-year to $268.7 million reflecting the increase in revenue. Income for the current period was $77.0 million
• Adjusted Levered Free Cash Flow (“ALFCF”) increased 15.8% to $173.5 million primarily driven by a reduction in interest payments. Cash from operations was $244.9 million
• Capital expenditure (“Total Capex”) of $41.4 million, decreased 5.3% year-on-year, primarily driven by the phasing of discretionary capital expenditure
• Consolidated net leverage ratio^(e) of 2.9x, down 0.5x year-on-year

Strategic and Operational Highlights

• Announced the proposed sale of IHS Towers to MTN Group Limited in February 2026 at an enterprise value^(f) of $6.2 billion
• In February 2026, the Company announced it had agreed to sell its Latin America tower operations to Macquarie Asset Management at an enterprise value^(f) of approximately $952 million, and its 51.0% stake in I-Systems to TIM S.A. at an enterprise value^(f) of approximately $453 million; in May 2026, the sale of the Company’s I-Systems stake to TIM S.A. completed
• The Naira appreciated 4.6% versus the U.S. dollar during the quarter, reflecting a more stable FX environment than in prior years. U.S dollar availability remains in line with business requirements
• Towers of 37,641 with Tenants of 54,854 at the end of the first quarter, leading to a Colocation Rate of 1.46x. Lease Amendments increased during the period to 45,298

Sam Darwish, IHS Towers Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We delivered a positive start to the year, with solid first‑quarter revenue and free cash flow growth, underpinned by disciplined execution and continued commercial momentum across the business. The proposed sale of IHS Towers to MTN, expected to close in 2026, remains an important strategic milestone, building on our long‑standing partnership and supporting the Group’s next phase of development.”

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Impact of Naira foreign exchange movements

In 2026, the Naira exchange rate against the U.S. dollar has exhibited reduced volatility compared with 2024, broadly consistent with the trend seen in 2025. The rates used in the preparation of our financial statements are shown below:

Compared to the same period in 2025, changes in the Naira exchange rate used to translate the results of our Nigeria operations positively impacted revenue and segment Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2026 by $26.7 million and $16.9 million, respectively. These impacts were partially offset by foreign exchange resets in some of our contracts. Movements in the Naira exchange rate in the first quarter of 2026 resulted in unrealized foreign exchange gains of $80.3 million on U.S. dollar denominated intercompany loans advanced to our Nigerian operations. These unrealized foreign exchange impacts are recognized in finance income or finance costs accordingly; however, Group net assets are not impacted, as equal and opposite movements are recorded in equity on the retranslation of the Nigerian operations’ assets and liabilities (which include these loans).

Results for the three months ended March 31, 2026, versus 2025

On February 11 and 17, 2026, the Group announced agreements to sell its 51.0% stake in I-Systems to TIM S.A. and its Latin American tower operations to Macquarie Asset Management, respectively. The Latin American tower operations and I-Systems disposal groups were classified as held for sale from December 31, 2025. These disposal groups comprised the entire Latam reportable segment and therefore this segment was presented as a discontinued operation. Accordingly, the description of revenue from continuing operations is now presented separately from the description of revenue from discontinued operations and Adjusted EBITDA Margin is only presented for individual segments. Other key performance indicators, including Adjusted EBITDA and ALFCF, continue to reflect the performance inclusive of the Latin America segment as the associated IFRS measures of earnings and cash from operations continue to include results from discontinued operations. In May 2026, the Group completed the disposal of its 51.0% stake in I-Systems to TIM S.A.

Revenue from continuing operations

Revenue from continuing operations for the three month period ended March 31, 2026, (“first quarter”) was $415.4 million, an increase of 6.0% year-on-year, despite a 3.7% inorganic revenue headwind from the disposal of the Company’s Rwanda operations in October 2025. Organic revenue^(a) decreased by $6.8 million (1.7%) driven by a reduction in revenues related to foreign exchange resets and power indexation, largely as a result of the appreciation of the Naira versus the U.S. dollar. This more than offset the continued growth in revenues from Tenants, Lease Amendments and New Sites, in addition to the benefit of escalations, and came despite the impact of Churn related to the approximately 1,050 sites MTN Nigeria agreed to vacate as part of the contract renewals and extensions signed during the third quarter of 2024. Inorganic revenue^(a) decreased by $14.5 million, which related to the disposal of operations in Rwanda in October 2025. The decrease in organic revenue was more than offset by the non-core^(a) impact of favorable movements in foreign exchange rates used to translate the results of foreign operations of $44.7 million, or 11.4%, of which $26.7 million was due to the appreciation of the Naira.

Refer to the revenue component of the segment results section of this discussion and analysis for further details.

Revenue from discontinued operations

Revenue from the Latin America segment for the three month period ended March 31, 2026, presented within discontinued operations, was $51.8 million, an increase of 9.0% year-on-year.

Towers, tenants and lease amendments

For the first quarter, there was a year-on-year net decrease in Towers of 1,571 (a net decrease of 104 year-on-year excluding the impact of the Rwanda disposal), resulting in total Towers of 37,641 at the end of the period. The decrease primarily resulted from the divestiture of 1,467 Towers in Rwanda in October 2025. The addition of 594 New Sites year-on-year, was more than offset by 677 Churned and 21 decommissioned sites. Tenants declined 4,752 year-on-year (including the divestiture of 3,041 from Rwanda, and a reduction of 4,132 from Churn). The Churn was inclusive of 2,576 tenants in the third quarter of 2025, which reflected an updated agreement with our smallest Key Customer in Nigeria, T2 (previously known as 9mobile), signed in that quarter. It was agreed that T2 would vacate our sites in exchange for a contractual commitment to settle portions of its historic overdue balances through July 2027. As a result, total Tenants were 54,854 at the end of the first quarter, with a Colocation Rate of 1.46x, in line with the fourth quarter of 2025. Excluding the impact of these two items, we added 865 net new tenants year-on-year. Year-on-year, we added 5,593 Lease Amendments, driven by continued incremental demand for ancillary services, resulting in total Lease Amendments of 45,298 at the end of the first quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of $268.7 million increased 6.4% year-on-year reflecting the increase in revenue described above. Cost of sales included within Adjusted EBITDA increased $7.3 million year-on-year, primarily driven by increases in tower repairs and maintenance costs ($2.1 million), staff costs ($1.6 million), power generation costs ($1.3 million), site rental costs ($0.9 million) and regulatory fees ($0.4 million). The $4.2 million increase in administrative expenses included within Adjusted EBITDA was primarily driven by other administrative expenses.

Income for the period

Income for the first quarter of 2026 was $77.0 million, compared to $30.7 million in the first quarter of 2025. The increase was primarily driven by a $80.7 million favorable movement in net finance income/(costs), mainly reflecting the impact of changes in the Naira exchange rate in the respective periods on U.S. dollar-denominated intercompany loans advanced to our Nigerian operations. In the first quarter of 2026, the Naira appreciated with an average exchange rate of ₦1,385 to the U.S dollar. Revenue also increased by $23.3 million.

These increases were partially offset by an increase in administrative expenses of $68.0 million, and an increase in cost of sales of $9.8 million. Administrative expenses in the quarter included accelerated expenses of $33.1 million related to share-based payment and long-term employee benefit expenses as a result of a change in expected vesting periods and settlement obligations following the February 2026 announcement by the Group that it had entered into a merger agreement to be acquired by MTN Group Limited. Administrative expenses also reflected a $17.9 million unfavorable movement in the net impairment of withholding tax receivables and a $8.3 million increase in business combination costs mainly due to costs associated with the merger transaction.

Cash from operations

Cash from operations for the first quarter of 2026 was $244.9 million, compared to $216.3 million for the first quarter of 2025. The increase primarily reflected a $19.3 million reduction in working capital outflows in addition to an increase in operating income before working capital changes of $9.3 million.

ALFCF

ALFCF for the first quarter of 2026 was $173.5 million, compared to $149.9 million for the first quarter of 2025. The increase in ALFCF was primarily due to a decrease of $26.4 million in net interest paid mainly due to the impact of the repayment and refinancing of high interest debt, partially offset by an increase in lease and rent payments of $7.9 million.

SEGMENT RESULTS

Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA by segment

Set out below are revenue and segment Adjusted EBITDA for each of our reportable segments, for the three months ended March 31, 2026, and 2025:

Nigeria

First quarter revenue increased 5.0% year-on-year to $285.0 million. Organic revenue decreased by $13.1 million, a decrease of 4.8% year-on-year, driven largely by a reduction in revenues linked to foreign exchange resets and diesel prices as a result of the appreciation of the Naira versus the U.S dollar during the period, which more than offset the growth primarily driven by escalations and Lease Amendments. Continued growth in revenue from Colocation, Lease Amendments and New Sites was partially offset by Churn related to the approximately 1,050 sites MTN Nigeria agreed to vacate as part of the contract renewals and extensions signed during the third quarter of 2024. The decrease in organic revenue was more than offset by favorable movements in foreign exchange rates used to translate the results of foreign operations, with an average Naira rate of ₦1,385 to $1.00 in the first quarter of 2026 compared to an average rate of ₦1,527 to $1.00 in the first quarter of 2025. This led to a non-core increase of $26.7 million, or 9.8% year-on-year.

Tenants decreased by 2,491 year-on-year, with growth of 819 from Colocation and 42 from New Sites, more than offset by 3,352 Churn, which was inclusive of 2,576 tenants in the third quarter of 2025 which reflected an updated agreement with our smallest Key Customer, T2. It was agreed that T2 would vacate our sites in exchange for a contractual commitment to settle portions of its historic overdue balances through July 2027. Lease Amendments increased by 4,240 driven by continued incremental demand for ancillary services.

Segment Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter increased 2.0% year-on-year to $182.6 million, resulting in an Adjusted EBITDA Margin of 64.1%. The year-on-year increase in segment Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter primarily reflected the increase in revenue described above, partly offset by an increase in cost of sales and administrative expenses included within segment Adjusted EBITDA. During the first quarter the increase in costs was primarily driven by a year-on-year increase in staff costs ($4.4 million), other administrative costs ($2.3 million) and tower repairs and maintenance costs ($1.4 million), with increases enhanced by the appreciation of the Naira, which is used to translate the results of our Nigeria operations.

SSA

First quarter revenue increased 8.1% year-on-year to $130.4 million, despite a 12.0% inorganic revenue headwind related to the disposal of operations in Rwanda in October 2025. Organic revenue, which increased by $6.3 million, or 5.2%, led by growth in revenue from new Tenants, Colocations, New Sites and escalations, partially offset by lower revenues from foreign exchange resets. The overall increase in revenue was also driven by an increase in non-core revenues as a result of positive movements in foreign exchange rates of $18.0 million, or 14.9%.

Tenants decreased by 3,003 year-on-year, primarily due to the disposal of 3,041 tenants in Rwanda. Other than this disposal, tenants increased by 38 driven by increases of 465 from Colocation and 190 from New Sites, partially offset by a reduction of 617 tenants from Churn primarily related to ZedMobile (“ZedMobile”), while Lease Amendments increased by 517.

Segment Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter increased 8.3% year-on-year to $77.6 million, resulting in an Adjusted EBITDA Margin of 59.5%. The year-on-year increase in segment Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter primarily reflected the increase in revenue described above, partially offset by a $2.3 million increase in costs included within Adjusted EBITDA. The increase in costs was primarily driven by increases in other administrative expenses ($3.1 million) largely reflecting a provision associated with the ZedMobile Churn in Zambia, power generation costs ($1.1 million) and tower repairs and maintenance costs ($0.9 million), partially offset by a reduction in staff costs ($1.3 million).

Latam

First quarter revenue increased 9.0% year-on-year to $51.8 million. Organic revenue declined 2.1% in the quarter, or $1.0 million, with the first quarter of 2025 benefiting from the recognition of non-recurring revenue of $3.6 million from our customer Oi S.A. (“Oi Brazil”) relating to a transfer of assets as part of their judicial recovery proceedings, which was partially offset by continued growth in Tenants, Lease Amendments, New Sites and CPI escalations. The decrease in organic growth was more than offset by the non-core impact of favorable movements in foreign exchange rates of $5.2 million, or 11.0%.

Tenants increased by 742 year-on-year, including 362 from New Sites and 543 from Colocation, while Lease Amendments increased by 836.

First quarter segment Adjusted EBITDA increased 5.6% to $37.6 million for a segment Adjusted EBITDA Margin of 72.7%, primarily driven by the increase in revenue during the period, partially offset by an increase in costs included within Adjusted EBITDA. The increase in costs was primarily driven by an increase in staff costs ($1.9 million) and site rental costs ($0.9 million).

On February 11 and 17, 2026, the Group announced agreements to sell its 51.0% stake in I-Systems to TIM S.A. and its Latin American tower operations to Macquarie Asset Management, respectively. The Latin American tower operations and I-Systems disposal groups were classified as held for sale from December 31, 2025. These disposal groups comprised the entire Latam reportable segment and therefore this segment was presented as a discontinued operation. In May 2026 the sale of the Company’s I-Systems stake to TIM S.A. completed.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

Set out below is the capital expenditure for the three months ended March 31, 2026, and 2025 for each of our reporting segments:

During the first quarter of 2026, capital expenditure (“Total Capex”) was $41.4 million, compared to $43.6 million for the first quarter of 2025. The decrease was primarily driven by lower capital expenditure in our SSA and Latam segments, mainly due to lower discretionary capital expenditure and lower fiber capital expenditure, respectively. These decreases were partially offset by higher capital expenditure in our Nigeria segment, reflecting the phasing of maintenance capital expenditure, fiber capital expenditure and augmentation capital expenditure, in addition to movements in foreign exchange rates.

Nigeria

The 45.4% year-on-year increase for the first quarter was primarily driven by increases related to maintenance capital expenditure ($2.4 million), fiber capital expenditure ($1.7 million) and augmentation capital expenditure ($0.8 million).

SSA

The 61.3% year-on-year decrease for the first quarter was primarily driven by decreases in other capital expenditure ($2.3 million), augmentation capital expenditure ($1.7 million) and maintenance capital expenditure ($1.1 million).

Latam

The 8.2% year-on-year decrease for the first quarter was primarily driven by decreases related to the fiber business ($2.9 million), New Sites ($1.8 million) and maintenance capital expenditure ($0.2 million), partially offset by an increase related to augmentation capital expenditure ($2.9 million).

FINANCING ACTIVITIES FOR PERIOD JANUARY 1, 2026, TO MARCH 31, 2026

Approximate U.S. dollar equivalent values for non-USD denominated facilities stated below are translated from the currency of the debt at the relevant exchange rates on March 31, 2026.

Nigeria (2026) Revolving Credit Facility

IHS Mauritius NG Holdco Limited, IHS (Nigeria) Limited, IHS Towers NG Limited, INT Towers Limited and IHS Holding Limited entered into an NGN100.0 billion (approximately $72.2 million) Naira-denominated revolving credit facility agreement in January 2026 (with the potential to upsize to NGN200.

Contacts

Enquiry: Investor

Contact Info:
IHS Towers

1 Cathedral Piazza

123 Victoria Street

London, SW1E 5BP

United Kingdom

investorrelations@ihstowers.com

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Contact Info:
Teneo

The Carter Building

11 Pilgram Street

London, EC4V 6RN

United Kingdom

ihstowers@teneo.com

Enquiry: Other

Contact Info:
IHS Towers

1 Cathedral Piazza

123 Victoria Street

London, SW1E 5BP

United Kingdom

+442081061600

communications@ihstowers.com

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