ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) executives said 2025 was a “very strong year” as the payments software company delivered its second consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth, expanded margins, generated solid cash flow, and returned capital to shareholders. Management also provided 2026 guidance calling for continued growth and reiterated its view that generative AI represents an opportunity to improve productivity and customer outcomes rather than a threat to its core platforms.
Full-year 2025 performance and capital returns
President and CEO Thomas Warsop said ACI’s results aligned with or exceeded the long-term financial framework the company outlined two years ago. For the full year, ACI reported total revenue of $1.76 billion, up 10% from 2024, and adjusted EBITDA of about $506 million to $507 million, up 9%. Net adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 42%, according to management.
Q4 results and revenue mix
Leibrock described the fourth quarter as a “solid close” to the year. Q4 total revenue was $482 million, up 6% year-over-year, while recurring revenue in the quarter was $304 million, up 13%. For the full year, recurring revenue reached $1.21 billion, up 11%, which management said underscores the “durability and quality” of ACI’s revenue base.
On bookings, Leibrock said net new ARR bookings increased 7% to $70 million. New license and services bookings were $255 million, down 12%, which he attributed primarily to the timing of contract signings between periods and a “more normalized Q4 to Q1 booking cadence,” rather than changes in underlying demand or deal quality.
Segment commentary: Payment Software and biller
Warsop said ACI reorganized its bank and merchant businesses into a unified Payment Software segment during 2025 to increase efficiency, accelerate innovation, and simplify operations. The segment posted 9% revenue growth and 10% adjusted EBITDA growth for the year. Leibrock provided additional detail, stating Payment Software revenue rose 9% to $942 million and adjusted EBITDA increased 10% to $544 million. He highlighted growing demand for cloud offerings, with SaaS revenue up 15% in Q4 and up 11% for the full year. Management cited broad-based growth across issuing and acquiring, real-time payments, fraud management, and merchant solutions.
In the biller segment, ACI reported 13% revenue growth to $818 million and adjusted EBITDA growth of 7% to $141 million. Management said results were driven by transaction volume growth among existing customers, new business momentum across utilities, government, and consumer finance, and continued investment in SpeedPay and its next-generation platform, SpeedPay One. Warsop said ACI is gaining share as billers consolidate onto outsourced digital bill pay platforms, and he pointed to new logo additions and customer expansions, including one of the country’s largest insurance billers and a top credit union adding new payment types and a modernized experience.
Connetic traction, real-time payments, and management’s AI stance
Warsop highlighted progress on ACI’s cloud-native payments hub, Connetic, calling it central to the company’s long-term modernization strategy. He said ACI signed a large European bank to Connetic in Q4, marking the second Connetic signing in 2025. In the Q&A, Warsop said Connetic is the fastest-growing portion of ACI’s overall pipeline “by a significant margin” and noted long sales cycles for large financial institutions. He added that ACI expects to launch the “card portion” of Connetic shortly, which he said should expand supported use cases.
Warsop also said roughly two-thirds of Connetic opportunities targeted for potential 2026 closes, on a count basis, are with mid-tier financial institutions—an area ACI “never targeted as a company before,” according to the CEO.
On real-time payments, Warsop said ACI continues to sign new logos and expansions. He cited an expansion with PayNet in Malaysia, the go-live with Banco de la República (the Central Bank of Colombia), and a renewal and expansion with Canada’s leading digital payments network. He noted that adoption of FedNow and RTP in the U.S. is “slowly increasing,” and said ACI is optimistic volumes will grow. Warsop said ACI’s real-time payments business grew 8% in 2025 and that the company still views overall adoption as early in the cycle.
Warsop devoted a portion of prepared remarks to generative AI, arguing ACI is “leaning in” with an “AI-first approach” coordinated through its Velocity program. He said the company is already applying AI to improve engineering productivity, automate knowledge-intensive workflows (including analyzing the company’s corpus of customer contracts), and enhance customer value—specifically by using AI for exception handling and payment repair within Connetic. He emphasized that ACI’s competitive position is supported by transaction-level data at scale, deep payments domain expertise, and resilient infrastructure, which he said AI can augment but not replace.
2026 guidance, margin outlook, and M&A priorities
For 2026, Leibrock guided to constant-currency revenue growth of 7% to 9%, or $1.88 billion to $1.91 billion, with Q1 revenue expected to be $405 million to $415 million. He said the company expects a more back-half-weighted profile, with about 44% of revenue in the first half and 56% in the second half, consistent with historical seasonality. Adjusted EBITDA guidance was $530 million to $550 million for the year and $88 million to $93 million for Q1.
Asked about the back-half acceleration, management said the outlook is “pretty balanced” across both segments and is supported by visibility into renewals and implementation schedules, noting that revenue recognition timing on renewals and go-lives influences quarterly phasing.
On margins, Leibrock said the company expects continued operating leverage while “repurposing” investments toward platforms such as Connetic and SpeedPay One. Warsop added that ACI aims to provide guidance it feels “highly confident in,” describing the company’s approach as prudence.
Leibrock said ACI expects to allocate roughly 50% to 60% of cash flow from operating activities to share repurchases in 2026, subject to market conditions and business needs, while continuing organic investment and preserving capacity for “disciplined strategic M&A” within its targeted leverage range. Warsop said the company’s M&A focus remains primarily on opportunities to accelerate Connetic’s capabilities and, secondarily, on acquisitions that could expand ACI’s geographic presence.
ACI also announced a board change, with Warsop saying Kim Schwendeman was appointed as part of an ongoing refreshment process, following earlier additions of Didier Lamouche and Todd Ford in October 2025. Jan Estep and Charlie Peters transitioned off the board as part of a planned succession.
About ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW)
ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) is a global software company that provides electronic payment and banking solutions to financial institutions, merchants and billers. The company’s platforms enable real-time processing of credit, debit, ACH, bill payments, faster payments and money transfers, as well as integrated fraud prevention services. Headquartered in Naples, Florida, ACI serves clients across banking, payments and commerce sectors worldwide.
ACI’s modular suite of applications can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud or in hybrid environments to meet diverse operational needs.
