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(Sharecast News) - GlobalData said in an update on Wednesday that trading remained robust in 2025, signalling margin expansion in the year ahead, as the data and analytics group outlined progress on its transformation strategy and confirmed plans to move to London's main market.
The AIM-traded firm said it expected to report revenue of about 322m for the 12 months ended 31 December, representing reported growth of 13% and organic underlying growth of 1%.
Healthcare delivered organic growth of 2%, while non-healthcare revenue was flat.
Subscription revenue grew by 1% on an organic underlying basis across both segments, supported by stable renewal rates.
Contracted forward revenue is expected to show growth of around 6%, or 3% on an organic underlying basis, with healthcare up 1% and non-healthcare up 4%.
Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be about 110m, implying margins of roughly 34%, with the group targeting a return towards 40% margins during 2026 following the completion of a cost synergy programme across recent acquisitions.
Net debt was expected to be approximately 110m, after more than 110m was returned to shareholders through share buybacks during the year and over 40m was spent on acquisitions.
The group said it had more than 200m of available facilities at the year end.
"During 2025, GlobalData embarked on an ambitious period of transformation through our continued investment in AI, our people and go-to-market strategy, as well as integrating six newly acquired businesses into our platform," said chief executive Mike Danson.
"This process is a key part of our growth transformation plan and has been executed on an accelerated basis to drive longer term sustainable value."
He added that, following its AI investor event in November, GlobalData entered 2026 "in a strong position with the launch of several AI enabled solutions including digital workers, as well as further investment in our AI hub and AVA, our AI research assistant, which is already creating value for our global customers".
Looking ahead, the board said renewal rates across end markets remained consistent and demand for business-critical data and insights continued to underpin a robust outlook.
The group said its recurring revenue model provided around 80% visibility over analyst revenue expectations for 2026, supporting confidence in long-term sustainable growth and margin re-expansion.
Separately, GlobalData confirmed that it expected to submit its application to move from AIM to the main market of the London Stock Exchange alongside the publication of its full-year results on 2 March, with admission to the main market expected at 0800 GMT on 5 March.
At 1200 GMT, shares in GlobalData were down 2.54% at 115p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.