ACI Worldwide, Inc. Reports Double-Digit Revenue Growth for Full Year Ended December 31, 2025

OMAHA, Neb.--( BUSINESS WIRE)--ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading provider of global payments technology, today reported strong financial results for fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025. The company also provided its full-year 2026 outlook for revenue and adjusted EBITDA which reflects continuing momentum.

ACI Worldwide reports Q4 and full year 2025 financial results, including 10% revenue growth, and provides 2026 revenue and EBITDA guidance.

“ACI delivered another year of double‑digit organic revenue growth, reflecting focused execution against our multi‑year growth initiatives and value creation strategy,” said Thomas Warsop, President and CEO of ACI. “Our results continue to be driven by mission‑critical payment and billing software that is deeply embedded in our customers’ complex and highly regulated workflows, creating durable, long‑term relationships. In 2025, revenue in our Payment Software segment increased 9%, while our Biller segment grew 13%. During the fourth quarter, we signed an additional ACI Connetic customer and continue to see growing demand for our cloud‑native payments platform. As we enter 2026, we remain focused on executing our strategy, advancing innovation across our payments portfolio, and driving long‑term shareholder value.”

“2025 reflected consistent execution and disciplined financial performance for ACI,” said Robert Leibrock, Chief Financial Officer of ACI. “We delivered 10% revenue growth, generated $323 million in operating cash flow, returned $203 million to shareholders, and reduced net leverage to 1.2x. Our 2026 guidance is consistent with our long‑term framework and reflects the durability of our recurring revenue base, continued margin discipline, and increased flexibility to return 50% to 60% of operating cash flow to shareholders, while continuing to invest in high‑return organic initiatives and preserving capacity for disciplined, strategic M&A within our targeted leverage range.”

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

In 2025, total revenue was $1.76 billion, up 10% from 2024 and recurring revenue was $1.21 billion, up 11% from 2024. Net income was $227 million in 2025, which includes a $22 million after-tax gain on the sale of ACI's minority interest in India-based Mindgate, up 12% from 2024. Total adjusted EBITDA in 2025 was $506 million, up 9% from 2024. Cash flow from operating activities in 2025 was $323 million, versus $359 million for 2024, reflecting normal timing differences in working capital, including receivables and deferred revenue.

ACI ended 2025 with $196 million in cash on hand and a debt balance of $823 million, representing a net debt leverage ratio of 1.2x adjusted EBITDA. In 2025, the Company repurchased approximately 4.2 million shares for $203 million in capital. At year-end 2025, the Company had $456 million remaining available on the share repurchase authorization.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS REFRESHMENT

ACI Worldwide’s Board of Directors remains committed to thoughtful refreshment and the continued expansion of relevant and complementary expertise. The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Kimberly deBeers, whose extensive professional and advisory experience in corporate governance, strategic transactions, and risk oversight will further strengthen the Board’s capabilities. This appointment follows the previously announced additions of Didier Lamouche and Todd Ford in the fourth quarter of 2025. As part of a planned and orderly succession process, Janet Estep and Charles Peters have transitioned off the Board, effective February 23, 2026.

Q1 AND FULL YEAR 2026 GUIDANCE

For the full year of 2026, we expect revenue growth to be in the 7% to 9% range on a constant currency basis, or in the range of $1.88 billion to $1.91 billion. We expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $530 million to $550 million. For Q1 2026, we expect revenue to be between $405 million and $415 million and adjusted EBITDA of $88 million to $93 million.

In 2026, ACI expects to allocate 50% to 60% of cash flow from operating activities toward share repurchases under its existing repurchase authorization, subject to market conditions.

CONFERENCE CALL TO DISCUSS FINANCIAL RESULTS

Today, management will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss these results. Interested persons may access a real-time teleconference webcast at http://investor.aciworldwide.com/. To join the live audio call, please dial +1 (800) 715-9871, provide your name, the conference name of ACI Worldwide, Inc. and conference ID 88945; alternatively, to reduce operator assisted delays joining the call, we invite you to register in advance by visiting https://registrations.events/direct/Q4I8894556676. This process will provide you with a unique passcode allowing you to join the call without operator assistance.

About ACI Worldwide

ACI Worldwide, an original innovator in global payments technology, delivers transformative software solutions that power intelligent payments orchestration in real time so banks, billers, and merchants can drive growth, while continuously modernizing their payment infrastructures, simply and securely. With nearly 50 years of trusted payments expertise, we combine our global footprint with a local presence to offer enhanced payment experiences to stay ahead of constantly changing payment challenges and opportunities.

ACI, ACI Worldwide, ACI Payments, Inc., ACI Pay, Speedpay and all ACI product/solution names are trademarks or registered trademarks of ACI Worldwide, Inc., or one of its subsidiaries, in the United States, other countries or both. Other parties' trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.

To supplement our financial results presented on a GAAP basis, we use the non-GAAP measures indicated in the tables, which exclude significant transaction-related expenses, as well as other significant non-cash expenses such as depreciation, amortization, and stock-based compensation, that we believe are helpful in understanding our past financial performance and our future results. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to our GAAP results and are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. Management generally compensates for limitations in the use of non-GAAP financial measures by relying on comparable GAAP financial measures and providing investors with a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures only in addition to and in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP.

We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures reflect an additional way to view aspects of our operations that, when viewed with our GAAP results, provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business. Certain non-GAAP measures include:

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Generally, forward-looking statements do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and may include words or phrases such as “believes,” “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” and words and phrases of similar impact. The forward-looking statements are made pursuant to safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to: (i) our results continue to be driven by mission‑critical payment and billing software that is deeply embedded in our customers’ complex and highly regulated workflows, creating durable, long‑term relationships, (ii) we signed an additional ACI Connetic customer and continue to see growing demand for our cloud-native payments platform, (iii) as we enter 2026, we remain focused on executing our strategy, advancing innovation across our payments portfolio, and driving long term shareholder value, (iv) our 2026 guidance is consistent with our long term framework and reflects the durability of our recurring revenue base, continued margin discipline, and increased flexibility to return 50% to 60% of operating cash flow to shareholders, while continuing to invest in high return organic initiatives and preserving capacity for disciplined, strategic M&A within our targeted leverage range, and (v) Q1 2026 and full-year 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA financial guidance.

All of the foregoing forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by the risk factors discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such factors include, but are not limited to, increased competition, business interruptions, cybersecurity incidents or failure of our information technology and communication systems, security breaches, reliance on third-party cloud infrastructure and related services, reliance on third-parties, our ability to attract and retain senior management personnel and skilled technical employees, future acquisitions, strategic partnerships and investments, divestitures and other restructuring activities, implementation and success of our strategy, anti-takeover provisions, exposure to credit or operating risks arising from certain payment funding methods, loss caused by theft or fraud, customer reluctance to switch to a new vendor, our ability to adequately defend our intellectual property, litigation, consent orders and other compliance agreements, our offshore software development activities, risks from operating internationally, including fluctuations in currency exchange rates, adoption of ACI Connetic, adverse changes in the global economy, compliance of our products with applicable legislation, governmental regulations and industry standards, the complexity of our products and services and the risk that they may contain hidden defects, legal and business risks from artificial intelligence technology incorporated into our products, risks to our business from the use of artificial intelligence by our workforce, complex regulations applicable to our payments business, our compliance with privacy and cybersecurity regulations, compliance with requirements of the payment card networks and Nacha, exposure to unknown tax liabilities, changes in tax laws and regulations, consolidations and failures in the financial services industry, volatility in our stock price, demand for our products, failure to obtain renewals of customer contracts or to obtain such renewals on favorable terms, delay or cancellation of customer projects or inaccurate project completion estimates, changes in card association and debit network fees or products, impairment of our goodwill or intangible assets, the accuracy of management’s backlog estimates, the cyclical nature of our revenue and earnings and the accuracy of forecasts due to the concentration of revenue-generating activity during the final weeks of each quarter, restrictions and other financial covenants in our debt agreements, our existing levels of debt, incurring additional debt, events outside of our control including natural disasters, wars, and outbreaks of disease, and revenues or revenue mix below expectations. For a detailed discussion of these risk factors, parties that are relying on the forward-looking statements should review our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

ACI WORLDWIDE, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(unaudited and in thousands)

December 31,

2025

2024

ASSETS

Current assets

Cash and cash equivalents

196,462

216,394

Receivables, net of allowances

445,866

414,399

Settlement assets

397,346

318,871

Prepaid expenses

29,876

29,218

Other current assets

19,564

11,940

Total current assets

1,089,114

990,822

Noncurrent assets

Accrued receivables, net

391,719

360,079

Property and equipment, net

37,363

35,069

Operating lease right-of-use assets

28,733

28,864

Software, net

77,523

92,893

Goodwill

1,231,128

1,226,026

Intangible assets, net

147,062

165,377

Deferred income taxes, net

73,124

72,713

Other noncurrent assets

29,141

53,450

TOTAL ASSETS

3,104,907

3,025,293

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Current liabilities

Accounts payable

64,931

45,422

Settlement liabilities

396,034

317,484

Employee compensation

56,142

55,567

Current portion of long-term debt

40,941

34,928

Deferred revenue

73,637

75,419

Other current liabilities

73,958

73,808

Total current liabilities

705,643

602,628

Noncurrent liabilities

Deferred revenue

13,620

19,304

Long-term debt

776,667

889,649

Deferred income taxes, net

38,514

39,920

Operating lease liabilities

22,609

22,592

Other noncurrent liabilities

28,776

26,873

Total liabilities

1,585,829

1,600,966

Stockholders’ equity

Preferred stock

—

Common stock

702

Additional paid-in capital

761,523

731,927

Retained earnings

1,824,743

1,598,085

Treasury stock

(964,752

)

(784,914

)

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

(103,138

)

(121,473

)

Total stockholders’ equity

1,519,078

1,424,327

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

3,104,907

3,025,293

ACI WORLDWIDE, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(unaudited and in thousands, except per share amounts)

Three Months Ended

December 31,

Years Ended December 31,

2025

2024

2025

2024

Revenues

Software as a service and platform as a service

253,191

223,481

1,008,448

897,979

License

158,344

159,322

461,505

412,306

Maintenance

50,797

46,717

201,280

190,763

Services

19,268

23,518

88,549

93,240

Total revenues

481,600

453,038

1,759,782

1,594,288

Operating expenses

Cost of revenue (1)

226,335

200,087

897,651

791,783

Research and development

44,959

38,614

167,541

146,677

Selling and marketing

33,437

34,360

125,074

118,352

General and administrative

43,365

33,437

142,706

118,379

Depreciation and amortization

24,670

24,252

96,896

110,962

Total operating expenses

372,766

330,750

1,429,868

1,286,153

Operating income

108,834

122,288

329,914

308,135

Other income (expense)

Interest expense

(13,826

)

(16,634

)

(57,847

)

(72,471

)

Interest income

3,200

4,093

14,874

15,926

Other, net

831

511

19,729

(1,181

)

Total other income (expense)

(9,795

)

(12,030

)

(23,244

)

(57,726

)

Income before income taxes

99,039

110,258

306,670

250,409

Income tax expense

34,703

11,703

80,012

47,291

Net income

64,336

98,555

226,658

203,118

Income per common share

Basic

0.63

0.94

2.18

1.93

Diluted

0.62

0.93

2.16

1.91

Weighted average common shares outstanding

Basic

102,889

105,104

103,956

105,491

Diluted

103,442

106,318

104,805

106,493

(1) The cost of revenue excludes charges for depreciation but includes amortization of purchased and developed software for resale.

ACI WORLDWIDE, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(unaudited and in thousands)

Three Months Ended

December 31,

Years Ended

December 31,

2025

2024

2025

2024

Cash flows from operating activities:

Net income

64,336

98,555

226,658

203,118

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash flows from operating activities:

Depreciation

3,308

3,162

12,836

18,161

Amortization

21,414

21,090

84,112

92,801

Amortization of operating lease right-of-use assets

2,453

2,369

9,698

9,706

Amortization of deferred debt issuance costs

416

655

2,107

2,912

Deferred income taxes

(190

)

(10,901

)

943

(13,130

)

Stock-based compensation expense

25,214

11,116

70,633

41,281

Gain on sale of equity investment

—

(25,927

)

—

Other

125

1,740

2,117

1,920

Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of impact of divestiture:

Receivables

(11,844

)

(27,282

)

(46,160

)

(23,583

)

Accounts payable

1,320

(1,026

)

11,318

(268

)

Accrued employee compensation

8,728

14,012

(726

)

2,887

Deferred revenue

7,280

10,002

(10,345

)

11,886

Other current and noncurrent assets and liabilities

(785

)

2,990

(14,433

)

11,057

Net cash flows from operating activities

121,775

126,482

322,831

358,748

Cash flows from investing activities:

Purchases of property and equipment

(5,177

)

(6,939

)

(12,907

)

(15,402

)

Purchases of software and distribution rights

(1,802

)

(6,471

)

(20,445

)

(29,649

)

Proceeds from sale of equity investment

—

46,021

—

Acquisition of business, net of cash acquired

(5,447

)

—

(5,447

)

—

Net cash flows from investing activities

(12,426

)

(13,410

)

7,222

(45,051

)

Cash flows from financing activities:

Proceeds from issuance of common stock

914

789

3,417

2,918

Proceeds from exercises of stock options

6,636

4,375

7,898

6,329

Repurchase of stock-based compensation awards for tax withholdings

(4,395

)

(3,812

)

(28,249

)

(13,111

)

Repurchases of common stock

(52,615

)

—

(202,638

)

(127,670

)

Redemption of 2026 Notes

—

(400,000

)

—

Proceeds from revolving credit facility

—

290,000

184,000

Repayment of revolving credit facility

(40,000

)

(61,000

)

(160,000

)

(238,000

)

Proceeds from term portion of credit agreement

—

200,000

500,000

Repayment of term portion of credit agreement

(10,625

)

(9,375

)

(40,000

)

(557,198

)

Payments on other debt, net

(8,961

)

(5,555

)

(20,926

)

(14,854

)

Payments for debt issuance costs

—

(134

)

(5,141

)

Net increase (decrease) in settlement assets and liabilities

7,646

(43,174

)

13,985

(25,470

)

Net cash flows from financing activities

(101,400

)

(117,752

)

(336,647

)

(288,197

)

Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash

(2,364

)

1,028

572

697

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

5,585

(3,652

)

(6,022

)

26,197

Cash and cash equivalents, including settlement deposits, beginning of period

253,411

268,670

265,018

238,821

Cash and cash equivalents, including settlement deposits, end of period

258,996

265,018

258,996

265,018

Reconciliation of cash and cash equivalents to the Consolidated Balance Sheets

Cash and cash equivalents

196,462

216,394

196,462

216,394

Settlement deposits

62,534

48,624

62,534

48,624

Total cash and cash equivalents

258,996

265,018

258,996

265,018

Adjusted EBITDA (millions)

Three Months Ended

December 31,

Years Ended

December 31,

2025

2024

2025

2024

Net income

64.3

98.6

226.7

203.1

Plus:

Income tax expense

34.7

11.7

80.0

47.3

Net interest expense

10.6

12.5

43.0

56.5

Net other (income) expense

(0.8

)

(0.5

)

(19.7

)

1.2

Depreciation expense

3.3

3.2

12.8

18.2

Amortization expense

21.4

21.1

84.1

92.8

Non-cash stock-based compensation expense

25.2

11.1

70.6

41.3

Adjusted EBITDA before significant transaction-related expenses

158.7

157.7

497.5

460.4

Significant transaction-related expenses:

Cost reduction strategies

1.5

—

7.7

4.3

Other

0.7

—

1.2

1.0

Adjusted EBITDA

160.9

157.7

506.4

465.7

Revenue, net of interchange:

Revenue

481.6

453.0

1,759.8

1,594.3

Interchange

137.4

115.7

554.6

469.4

Revenue, net of interchange

344.2

337.3

1,205.2

1,124.9

Net adjusted EBITDA Margin

Segment Information (millions)

Three Months Ended

December 31,

Years Ended

December 31,

2025

2024

2025

2024

Revenue

Payment Software

278.0

272.8

942.1

867.8

Biller

203.6

180.2

817.7

726.5

Total

481.6

453.0

1,759.8

1,594.3

Recurring revenue

Payment Software

100.4

90.0

392.0

362.2

Biller

203.6

180.2

817.7

726.5

Total

304.0

270.2

1,209.7

1,088.7

Segment adjusted EBITDA

Payment Software

172.2

167.6

543.7

495.1

Biller

37.9

32.1

140.7

131.2

Note: Amounts may not recalculate due to rounding.

EPS Impact of Non-cash and Significant Transaction-related Items (millions)

Three Months Ended December 31,

2025

2024

EPS Impact

$ in Millions

(Net of Tax)

EPS Impact

$ in Millions

(Net of Tax)

GAAP net income

0.62

64.3

0.93

98.6

Adjusted for:

Significant transaction-related expenses

0.02

1.7

—

Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles

0.04

4.2

0.04

4.5

Amortization of acquisition-related software

0.03

3.3

0.03

3.3

Non-cash stock-based compensation

0.19

19.9

0.08

8.8

Total adjustments

0.28

29.1

0.15

16.6

Diluted EPS adjusted for non-cash and significant transaction-related items

0.90

93.4

1.08

115.2

EPS Impact of Non-cash and Significant Transaction-related Items (millions)

Years Ended Years Ended December 31,

2025

2024

EPS Impact

$ in Millions

(Net of Tax)

EPS Impact

$ in Millions

(Net of Tax)

GAAP net income

2.16

226.7

1.91

203.1

Adjusted for:

Gain on divestiture

(0.21

)

(21.7

)

—

Significant transaction-related expenses

0.07

6.9

0.07

7.4

Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles

0.16

16.7

0.22

23.3

Amortization of acquisition-related software

0.12

12.9

0.13

13.8

Non-cash stock-based compensation

0.53

55.8

0.31

32.6

Total adjustments

0.67

70.6

0.73

77.1

Diluted EPS adjusted for non-cash and significant transaction-related items

2.83

297.3

2.64

280.2

Recurring Revenue (millions)

Three Months Ended

December 31,

Years Ended

December 31,

2025

2024

2025

2024

SaaS and PaaS fees

253.2

223.5

1,008.4

898.0

Maintenance fees

50.8

46.7

201.3

190.8

Recurring revenue

304.0

270.2

1,209.7

1,088.7

New Bookings (millions)

Three Months Ended

December 31,

Years Ended

December 31,

2025

2024

2025

2024

Annual recurring revenue (ARR) bookings

24.4

35.2

70.3

65.7

License and services bookings

65.1

115.1

254.6

290.0

Note: Amounts may not recalculate due to rounding.