GB Group H2 Earnings Call Highlights

GB Group LON: GBG reported fiscal 2026 revenue and profit in line with its prior guidance and set out a plan to accelerate growth through its AI-powered identity platform, expanded partnerships and a continued recovery in the Americas.

Chief Executive Dev Dhiman said FY 2026 was “a significant year” in which strategic changes made over the past two years began to show results. The company delivered constant-currency revenue growth of 3.2% and adjusted operating profit of £67.5 million, matching the profit target it had reiterated in November.

Dhiman said the company met all five priorities it had laid out for the second half of the year: delivering financial guidance, returning the Americas to growth, executing on the GBG Go pipeline, transitioning to a global functional operating model and returning capital to shareholders.

Revenue Growth Accelerates in Core Segments

Chief Financial Officer David Ward said revenue for the year was £285 million, up 3.2% in constant currency. Growth was weighted toward the second half, with the company’s core identity and location segments accelerating to 5.7% growth in that period.

Adjusted operating profit was £67.5 million, with the margin maintained within the company’s 23% to 24% target range. Diluted earnings per share increased 9.3% to £0.191. GBG ended the year with net debt of £80.1 million, representing leverage of just over 1.1 times EBITDA, and cash conversion of adjusted operating profit was 87%.

Ward said 95% of revenue came from repeatable subscription and consumption revenue types, with subscriptions representing 56% of that amount. Net revenue retention remained at 100%, but he said the metric is “primed for acceleration” as the impact of a retired compliance platform washes through and gross retention improves in the Americas.

The identity segment, which accounts for 61% of group revenue, grew 2.2%. Excluding the revenue drag from the company’s decision to retire its compliance platform, identity revenue grew 3.3% for the year and more than 6% in the second half. Ward said the company’s know-your-business, or KYB, offering grew 600% year over year from a small base and developed a promising pipeline.

The location segment, which represents almost one-third of group revenue, delivered “continued resilient growth,” according to Ward, supported by demand for data quality solutions and channel partners. Location solutions in Asia grew 25%, while the segment’s contribution margin remained strong at 43%.

GBG Go Becomes Central to Growth Strategy

Dhiman described GBG Go as the company’s “AI-powered adaptive identity platform” and a key growth engine. The platform launched commercially at the start of FY 2026, initially focused on new logos, and ended the year with more than 100 customer wins. Ward later said the total had risen to 121 since year-end, with a pipeline of more than 225 qualified leads.

GBG said customer wins included Uber, Remitly, Revolut and Bet365. Dhiman said winning Uber’s U.K. business “would not have been possible without Go,” and described it as a signal of the platform’s capability at scale.

The company is making a one-off £6 million investment in FY 2027 to accelerate the GBG Go roadmap and bring forward additional capabilities and AI-driven insights. Ward said the investment will be made almost entirely through existing outsourced development partners and is fully costed, with no expected spillover beyond FY 2027.

Dhiman said the investment is intended to increase net revenue retention through cross-sell and pricing, accelerate new business and support efficiency by allowing GBG to retire legacy platforms. He said the company expects the investment to contribute an additional 2 percentage points to revenue growth in the medium term.

Americas Returns to Growth as Equifax Partnership Expands

GBG said its Americas business returned to growth in the fourth quarter after a year of focus on leadership, sales productivity and go-to-market execution. Dhiman said new business in the region was up three times year over year and customer activation is now 50% faster.

The company also introduced minimum commitments at renewal for some agreements that had previously been pay-as-you-go, improving revenue visibility. Dhiman said a “significant chunk” of new business was pre-committed.

GBG highlighted an expanded strategic partnership with Equifax, announced publicly after being concluded in March. Dhiman said the agreement gives GBG broad access to Equifax proprietary data in the U.S., helping differentiate the company in what he called the world’s largest identity fraud market. GBG’s location capabilities are also expected to be integrated into Equifax’s U.S. platform in 2026, with global expansion following in 2027.

Dhiman said the partnership opens public-sector opportunities for GBG and gaming opportunities for Equifax. In a question-and-answer session, he said GBG has access to some Equifax data that competitors do not, particularly data related to new-to-credit and hard-to-find individuals.

Capital Returns and Exceptional Items

GBG returned £56 million to shareholders in FY 2026, including £45 million of share buybacks and the FY 2025 final dividend. Ward said the buybacks represented approximately 8% of the company’s equity. Share repurchases resumed on April 1, 2026, with a further £10 million extension approved by the board, alongside a recommended final dividend of £0.044 per share.

The company recorded several exceptional items. Ward said retiring the compliance platform required a non-cash write-off of associated intangible assets with a carrying value of £16.5 million. GBG also recorded a £73.1 million non-cash goodwill impairment related to the Americas identity business. Ward said the impairment reflected accounting assumptions and valuation conditions, not a change in management’s confidence in the Americas outlook.

Other exceptional expense items totaled £8.4 million, including £4.4 million for corporate systems and data improvements, £1.9 million for the move from AIM to the main market and £1.9 million for restructuring tied to the new operating model.

FY 2027 and Medium-Term Outlook

For FY 2027, Ward said GBG expects mid-single-digit revenue growth, reflecting momentum from the second half of FY 2026 and continued improvement in the Americas identity business. Margins are expected to be 21% to 22% because of the £6 million investment, before returning to the 23% to 24% target range in FY 2028. Cash conversion is expected to be approximately 90%.

GBG set medium-term guidance for sustained revenue growth of 7% to 9% and operating margin above 24%. In the Q&A session, Ward confirmed that the medium-term guidance effectively refers to FY 2029, with FY 2028 acting as a bridge year.

Dhiman said the company’s confidence rests on three priorities: accelerating the Americas, innovating through GBG Go and operating as “one GBG.” He said the company has moved from a 2% to 3% growth business when he took the CEO role to mid-single-digit growth, with a goal of sustaining high-single-digit growth over the medium term.

About GB Group LON: GBG

GBG is a global identity technology business, enabling safe and rewarding digital lives for genuine people, everywhere. For over 30 years, we have combined global data with our innovative technology to make sure that genuine people everywhere can digitally prove who they are and where they live. We are an essential ingredient that protects against digital crime, strengthens business resilience and drives responsible growth, at scale, across a diverse range of sectors. Today, our team of over 1,100 people serve more than 20,000 customers globally.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.