IHS Q1 Earnings Down, But Revenue Rises; Backs Annual Guidance; Stock Down In Pre-market

(RTTNews) - IHS Holding Ltd. (IHS), a shared communications infrastructure manufacturer, Tuesday, reported lower earnings for the first quarter, on higher cost of sales. However, revenue grew by 35 percent.

The company also reaffirmed its full-year guidance.

The first-quarter earnings decreased to $7.7 million or $0.03 per share from $15.1 million or $0.05 per share of last year, particularly impacted by increase in cost of sales including higher power generation costs and increased administrative expenses.

On average, four analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.18 per share for the quarter. Consensus estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Revenue, however increased to $602.5 million from $446.1 million last year, driven by organic and inorganic growth.

Organic growth of 38% or $169.6 million was due to escalations, and foreign exchange resets in revenue. Inorganic growth of 8.3% or $37.2 million was due to MTN SA Acquisition, GTS SP5 Acquisition and the fifth stage of the Kuwait Acquisition. Revenue growth also includes $48.1 million of non-recurring revenue from the smallest key customer in Nigeria.

Looking ahead to the full year, the company still expects its total revenue to grow by 23 percent approximately in the range of $2.19 billion-$2.22 billion. The Street estimate of revenue remains at $2.21 billion. It also continues to expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $1.2 billion-$1.22 billion

In pre-market activity, shares of IHS were trading at $8.44 down 0.77% or $0.07 on the New York Stock Exchange.