BARCELONA (Reuters) – Europe’s largest mobile phone tower operator Cellnex said on Thursday its nine-month net loss widened 73% to 145 million euros ($169.36 million) on higher amortizations and costs from acquisitions, while core earnings grew 59%.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 1.3 billion euros while revenue grew 53% to 1.7 billion euros thanks to the Spanish company’s rapid expansion, led by its services to mobile operators division.
Telecom towers have become the target of several big deals in the past years as Cellnex and U.S.-based American Tower Corp race to increase their European footprint, eyeing the roll-out of next-generation 5G technology.
In July, Cellnex raised its 2021 guidance, expecting an adjusted EBITDA of between 1.91 billion euros and 1.93 billion euros on revenues of between 2.535 billion euros and 2.555 billion euros.
After closing a 7 billion euro capital raising in April, Cellnex plans to spend up to 9 billion euros on acquisitions over the next year, but it has not given any clear indication on potential next moves.
Since its listing in 2015, the Barcelona-based company, which has a market capitalisation of around 37 billion euros, has invested heavily, buying up assets and assembling a portfolio that will reach around 130,000 masts in 12 European countries once its latest operations are finalised.
Cellnex’s net debt grew to 8.6 billion euros in the third quarter from 6.5 billion euros at the end of last year, while the company said it had access to immediate liquidity of around 14.3 billion euros.
(Reporting by Joan Faus; Editing by Nathan Allen)
