Revenue up, earnings down as GlobalData moves to Main Market

(Sharecast News) - GlobalData reported double-digit full-year revenue growth on Monday, underpinned by acquisitions and rising adoption of its AI-enabled products, as the group prepared to move to London's Main Market this week. For the year ended 31 December, total revenue increased 13% to £322.1m from £285.5m, although underlying revenue growth was 1% as macroeconomic headwinds and organisational restructuring weighed on performance.

Adjusted EBITDA declined 6% to £110.2m, with margin reducing to 34% from 41%, reflecting investment in its growth transformation plan and the initial integration impact of six acquisitions.

Operating profit rose 25% to £81.2m, while profit before tax increased 26% to £69.2m, including a £20.5m credit relating to share-based payments.

Earnings per share rose 16% to 4.4p, with adjusted EPS up 43% to 7.3p.

The AIM-traded firm's board proposed a final dividend of 1.2p, up 20%, taking total dividends for the year to 1.5p.

Contracted forward revenue rose 5% to £179.7m, or 3% on an underlying basis, providing what the company described as around 80% visibility over analyst revenue consensus for 2026.

Operating cash flow remained robust at £83.3m, despite acquisition and restructuring costs. Net bank debt stood at £114.2m at year end, compared with net cash of £10.1m in 2024, reflecting merger and acquisition activity and capital returns.

The group completed two further acquisitions during the year, strengthening its consumer and innovation capabilities, and returned more than £100m to shareholders through buybacks, alongside an £11m contribution to its employee benefit trust.

GlobalData said its AI Hub was now embedded across its customer base, with 90% of customers contracted to an AI Hub-enabled product.

Usage more than doubled in the first half to over 100,000 users, with a threefold increase in active users as AI functionality was integrated across the platform.

"2025 has been a year of resilient performance for GlobalData, in a business environment that remains uncertain," said chief executive Mike Danson.

"We have continued to successfully embed our solutions-led sales model, and while the reorganisation is taking time to fully implement, it is already strengthening customer engagement, improving collaboration across teams, and building a quality pipeline."

He added that the company had seen "rapid adoption" of the AI Hub by more than 90% of customers.

"Our proprietary data and expert insights are mission-critical to our customers' decision-making in fast evolving marketplaces, reinforcing the need for real time, trusted intelligence."

Admission to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange was expected at 0800 GMT on 5 March.

The board said it had a "clear line of sight" to margin recovery towards 40% over the medium term as integration activity completed and incremental revenue flowed through at higher margins.

At 1205 GMT, shares in GlobalData were down 0.22% at 84.21p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.