On May 7, IHS Towers recorded its highest single-day trading volume in nearly two years, with over 3 million shares exchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
As investor interest grew, the company’s stock price surged by 9.7%, closing at $5.70, driven by the recovery of Nigeria’s leading telecom operators, MTN and Airtel, from recent challenges.
IHS has seen its stock climb over 51% since the start of the year, outpacing both the S&P 500 and the tech sector.
From $4.00 per share in January, it hit $5.94 by early May, its highest point since September 2023. Investors are responding to more than market positivity. The business is getting its fundamentals right.
In Q4 2024, IHS exceeded analyst expectations with revenue reaching $437.8 million and earnings per share landing at $0.73. These profits were supported by two key decisions: cost control measures and the renewal of major lease agreements with MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria, its key clients.
Together, the two telcos contributed 57% of IHS’s total revenue in 2024, with Nigeria alone accounting for 58.3% of the company’s entire earnings.
These numbers matter. They explain why long-term investors are eyeing IHS Towers more seriously. In 2024, the company secured 72% of its revenue under long-term contracts.
That sort of predictability is rare in emerging markets and makes IHS less exposed to the type of volatility that often derails infrastructure investments.
One big win was the renewal of IHS’s Master Lease Agreements with MTN Group until December 2032. These deals introduced pricing models that account for Nigeria’s currency fluctuations and unpredictable energy costs, two issues that previously damaged profit margins.
Add to that a similar agreement with Airtel in February 2024, and the picture starts to change: IHS now has a decade of secured earnings from its biggest customers.
Yet, these profits have not come without risk. Power generation alone swallowed 39.2% of IHS’s cost of sales in 2024. To tackle this, the firm has turned to hybrid energy setups, combining diesel, solar, and battery power, to manage costs. It’s a necessary adjustment in a country where grid reliability can’t be guaranteed.
CEO Sam Darwish also played a role in swaying investor sentiment. In the past month, he increased his stake in the company by $7.75 million. His holdings grew from $56.21 million to $64 million by early May, a 13.76% jump in value that directly shows confidence in IHS’s trajectory.
“In Nigeria, the NCC’s tariff increase is a positive development for mobile network operators that is expected to unlock investment in communications infrastructure,” IHS said in a statement.
That investment is already taking shape, with plans to build 500 new towers in 2025. Many of these will support 5G expansion, especially in underserved regions of Nigeria where connectivity remains patchy.
Still, the risks are not buried. IHS Towers remains vulnerable to sabotage, site vandalism, and unauthorised shutdowns. “As a TowerCo, we continue to face operational challenges, such as those related to site security, sabotage, illegitimate shutdown of sites, and exposure to currency fluctuations, but we are committed to delivering for our customers,” the company stated.
These threats, combined with current governance issues between IHS and MTN, remind investors that the business environment remains complex.
But the fundamentals are changing in IHS’s favour. Telecom operators are prioritising network efficiency over capital-heavy expansion.
A tower-sharing agreement between MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa, signed in March 2025, is expected to deepen IHS’s market role, allowing it to increase utilisation rates without needing massive upfront investment.
Ultimately, what we’re witnessing is not limited to a stock reacting to quarterly numbers, but a company slowly strengthening its place in Africa’s digital growth, one long-term lease, one hybrid-powered tower, and one traded share at a time.
