IHS Holding Ltd

IHSdata completeness 100%7 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

IHS Holding Ltd earns about -7% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 2% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $12.57 and $14.15 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$1.58B1$1.96B2$1.93B3$1.53B3$1.58B3
Net income−$25.8M4−$459M5−$1.98B6−$1.63B6$143.6M6
Operating cash flow$750.2M7$907.3M8$853.5M9$729.4M9$936.2M9
Capital expenditure$238.1M10$378.5M11$464.9M12$235.2M12$217.5M12
Free cash flow (derived)$512M7$528.8M8$388.6M9$494.2M9$718.7M9
Total debt$2.61B13$3.34B14$3.51B15$3.35B15$3.14B15
Cash & equivalents$916.5M16$514.1M16$293.8M16$578M17$825.7M17
Diluted shares327.8M331.9M331.9M333.4M335.5M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
−$7.49
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$4.28
Free cash flow it threw off
$21.42
Debt you’d be carrying
$93.52

10 shares is a claim on −$7.49 of net worth that earned you $4.28 and generated $21.42 of cash last year, against $93.52 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-7% avg · 5y
FY21 4%FY22 -6%FY23 -36%FY24 -38%FY25 40%

It earned about -7% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — below the cost of funding. The numbers show no moat.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
+2% shares · 5y

Share count is up 2% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. Total debt has risen 20% over the same window.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $12.57 and $14.15 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$12.57
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$494.2M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$14.15
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$494.2M
Earnings Power Value
not applicable
normalized (5y-median) earnings non-positive — EPV undefined
Graham Number
not applicable
book value / share count missing or non-positive — Graham Number undefined

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years0.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $14.15
The three cases
Bear0.0%$14.15
Base0.0%$14.15
Bull5.0%$19.25

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 0.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-002949 (Revenue)
  2. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-003172 (Revenue)
  3. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-028162 (Revenue)
  4. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-002949 (ProfitLossAttributableToOwnersOfParent)
  5. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-003172 (ProfitLossAttributableToOwnersOfParent)
  6. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-028162 (ProfitLossAttributableToOwnersOfParent)
  7. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-002949 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-003172 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-028162 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-002949 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  11. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-003172 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  12. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-028162 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  13. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-002949 (Borrowings)
  14. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-003172 (Borrowings)
  15. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-028162 (Borrowings)
  16. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-003172 (CashAndCashEquivalents)
  17. 20-F · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-028162 (CashAndCashEquivalents)