On today's call, we will discuss ACI Worldwide's Q4 and full year 2025 results, as well as our financial outlook for 2026. You can find the full text of these statements in our earnings press release and in our filings with the SEC. Tom will begin with an overview of our Q4 and full year performance, strategic highlights, and the progress we're making against our long-term plan. Bobby will then review our financial results in more detail, including segment performance, cash flow, and our outlook for 2026.

I appreciate you joining our Q4 and full year 2025 earnings call. For the full year 2025, we delivered $1.76 billion in total revenue. That's up 10% from 2024, and that was our second consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth. Adjusted EBITDA increased 9% to $507 million, and our adjusted net EBITDA margin expanded to 42%.

This gives us significant flexibility to continue executing on our growth agenda while also returning capital to shareholders. As a reminder, our strategy emphasizes growth within our core vertical markets, disciplined operational execution, and a return-driven approach to capital allocation. I also want to take a moment to discuss some of the important strategic successes we had at a segment level during 2025. In 2025, we took a major step forward in scaling our bank and merchant businesses by unifying them into a new segment we call Payment Software.

What went well
  • Full-year 2025 total revenue of $1.76 billion, up 10% versus 2024 and the second consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth.
  • Adjusted EBITDA rose 9% to $506 million and net adjusted EBITDA margin expanded roughly 100 basis points to 42%, reflecting operating leverage in the software model.
  • Payment Software segment grew revenue 9% to $942 million with adjusted EBITDA up 10% to $544 million; issuing and acquiring solutions grew 11% and SaaS revenue grew 15% in Q4 and 11% for the full year.
  • Biller segment revenue grew 13% to $818 million with continued transaction growth and new logos across utilities, government, and consumer finance as billers consolidate onto modern digital bill pay platforms.
  • Strong balance sheet and capital returns: ended the year with $196 million cash and 1.2x net debt leverage, and repurchased 4.2 million shares (about 4% of shares outstanding) for $203 million.
  • Connetic momentum with a second 2025 signing (a large European bank), plus real-time payments wins including PayNet in Malaysia, going live with the Central Bank of Colombia, and a renewal/expansion with Canada's leading digital payments network.
What went wrong
  • New license and services bookings were $255 million, down 12% year-over-year (attributed to timing of contract signings between periods, not underlying demand).
  • Cash flow from operating activities declined to $323 million in 2025 from $359 million in 2024, reflecting working-capital timing in receivables and deferred revenue.
  • Q4 total revenue growth of 6% was slower than the full-year 10% pace.
  • The midpoint of 2026 guidance implies a slight adjusted EBITDA margin compression versus revenue growth, tied to reinvestment in Connetic and SpeedPay One.

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Reported 2026-02-26 · figures from the Aci Worldwide, Inc. Q4 2025 earnings call.

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