NIQ Announces Strong Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results

• Exceeded Revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and levered free cash flow guidance and achieved positive free cash flow for the full year.
• Delivered 9.2% reported revenue growth in Q4, or 5.7% organic constant currency ("OCC")
• Drove 7.7% and 7.1% Intelligence OCC revenue growth in Q4 and full year 2025, respectively
• Improved net loss and increased cash provided by operating activities to $298.7 million and grew $224.8 million year-over-year
• Accelerated Adjusted EBITDA growth, and delivered positive levered free cash flow in FY25, including $315.3 million of levered free cash flow in the second half of 2025
• Announced tech-enabled cost‑efficiency actions expected to enhance projected 2026 margins
• Introducing 2026 financial guidance; we expect 5.0% to 5.3% OCC revenue growth, 23.5% to 23.8% Adjusted EBITDA margin, and $235.0M to $250.0M of levered free cash flow

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NIQ Global Intelligence plc (NYSE: NIQ) (the “Company”, or “NIQ”), a leading global consumer intelligence company, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025.

Fourth Quarter 2025 Results

Revenue:

• Total revenue grew 9.2% year-over-year to $1,139.1 million. Organic constant currency revenue grew 5.7%, led by EMEA and Americas, which grew 7.5% and 5.7%, respectively.
• Intelligence revenue (as reported) grew 10.9%, or 7.7% in organic constant currency. Activation revenue (as reported) grew 3.4%, or a 1.2% decrease year-over-year in organic constant currency.
• Annualized Intelligence Subscription revenue grew 6.6% to $2,877.1 million with 105% Intelligence Subscription Net Dollar Retention and 98% Gross Dollar Retention.

Earnings:

• Net loss and Adjusted Net Loss improved by $140.7 million and $58.5 million year-over-year.
• Adjusted EBITDA growth accelerated to 30.2% resulting in $289.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 410 basis points year-over-year to 25.4%.
• Net cash provided by operating activities was $188.7 million and increased $120.4 million year-over-year driven by higher profitability as well as reduced interest payments resulting from our transformed capital structure post-IPO. Net working capital contributed $45.8 million of net cash inflows driven by improved days sales outstanding (“DSOs”).
• Unlevered free cash flow of $149.7 million increased $79.2 million year-over-year driven by higher profitability, improved net working capital and increased capital efficiency.

“Q4 exceeded expectations and capped a defining year for NIQ,” said Jim Peck, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We entered the public markets, executed with discipline, and delivered durable organic growth, significant margin expansion, and $315 million of levered free cash flow in the back half—achieving positive free cash flow ahead of schedule.”

“In 2026, we're harnessing AI to fundamentally strengthen NIQ’s competitive position. As enterprises move from experimentation to operational AI, trusted, governed, and decision‑grade data becomes mission‑critical—and that is where NIQ excels. Our data moat is built on proprietary datasets at global scale. We are embedding AI across our data, products, and workflows to widen our moat, accelerate innovation and drive monetization, and structurally lower our cost base. Our inflecting free cash flow—together with cost‑efficiency actions supporting our improved 2026 margin outlook—potentially mark a prominent next phase of profitable growth for NIQ.”

“We achieved all of the key financial priorities we set at our IPO—consistent organic growth, expanded margins, positive free cash flow, and reduced leverage,” added Mike Burwell, Chief Financial Officer. “In 2026, we expect to build on this momentum with 5‑plus percent organic revenue growth, continued margin and free cash flow expansion, and disciplined capital allocation—including growth‑focused capex, investments in our AI capabilities, and tuck‑in M&A.”

Full Year 2025 Results

Revenue:

• Total revenue grew 5.7% year-over-year to $4,198.4 million. Organic constant currency revenue grew 5.7%. Revenue growth was led by EMEA and Americas, which grew 7.2% and 5.9% respectively.
• Intelligence revenue (as reported) grew 6.6%, or 7.1% in organic constant currency. Activation revenue (as reported) grew 2.1% and was flat year-over-year in organic constant currency.

Earnings:

• Net loss and Adjusted Net Loss improved $444.7 million and $211.1 million year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA growth accelerated to 23.8% resulting in $916.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 320 basis points year-over-year to 21.8%.
• Net cash provided by operating activities was $298.7 million and grew $224.8 million year-over-year driven by lower payments on interest and higher profitability.
• Unlevered free cash flow of $334.5 million grew $147.9 million year-over-year driven by higher profitability and increased capital efficiency.

Summary Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2025 Business Highlights:

Key client developments, including:

• Landed five eight-figure Intelligence renewals with enterprise clients and drove continued strong Consumer Panel takeaways in Western Europe and LATAM
• Cross-sold eCommerce solutions to 29% of Intelligence clients in 2025 (up from 19% in 2024), and grew Full View Measurement clients to more than 190, and accelerated eCommerce revenue growth 32% in 2025
• Increased client Net Promoter Score to 49, our highest reading ever—up 11 points year-over-year—driven by strong gains in Western Europe and Asia Pacific
• Selected by Kellanova Europe—the global snacking powerhouse behind favorites like Pringles®, Cheez-It®, Pop-Tarts®, and Rice Krispies Treats®—to help power its consumer understanding and decision-making across 29 European markets
• Selected by EURONICS, one of the largest retail cooperatives in the Technical Consumer Goods sector, to deliver Online Price Monitoring across their digital shelf – giving its members clear, real-time visibility into market pricing and consumer trends to track competitive pricing, detect early market shifts, and activate strategies that drive growth

New AI-enabled product launches & capabilities, including:

• Reached 4 trillion data records captured per week in our AI-powered Connect data engine
• Beta-launched agentic AI Analyst feature in Discover spanning key client persona use-cases across Account Performance, Pricing, Distribution, and Shopper Analysis
• Expanded BASES AI Product Developer to 35 clients and 40 countries and BASES AI Screener to 36 clients and 209 categories in 2025

AI-enabled cost efficiency, including:

• Reduced cash data costs to 15% of revenue in 2025
• Embedded AI across engineering, data operations, sales, and corporate support functions is boosting productivity, improving delivery and lowering cost‑to‑serve;

Financial Summary & Operating Metrics

Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2025 Segment Results

Fourth Quarter Revenue Discussion

Revenue increased 9.2% on an as-reported basis, while organic constant currency revenue grew 5.7%. Our Q4 organic constant‑currency growth was driven primarily by value‑based pricing, along with strong upselling and cross‑selling of new capabilities and solutions, and continued expansion into adjacent and high‑growth markets.

Americas: Q4 segment revenue increased by $37.2 million, or 9.0% on an as-reported basis. Reported revenue growth was led by Intelligence, which rose 9.0% driven by strong renewals, expansion within core services, effective cross‑selling of new capabilities, and continued traction in adjacent and high‑growth markets. Activation grew 9.3% on an as-reported basis, supported by higher project demand and volume increases. The acquisition of M-Trix and Gastrograph provided an additional 0.9% to reported growth, while foreign‑currency movements added 2.4%. Organic constant currency growth was 5.7%.

EMEA: Q4 segment revenue increased by $57.3 million, or 12.8% on an as-reported basis. Reported revenue growth was led by Intelligence, which rose 15.6% driven by strong renewals, expansion within core services, effective cross‑selling of new capabilities, and continued traction in adjacent and high‑growth markets. Activation decreased by 0.1% on an as-reported basis, driven by lower project demand and volume decreases. The sale of our ownership interest in Netquest reduced reported growth by 2.0%, while foreign‑currency movements added 7.3%. Organic constant currency growth was 7.5%.

APAC: Q4 segment revenue increased by $1.8 million, or 1.0% on an as-reported basis. Reported revenue growth was led by Intelligence, which rose 2.6% driven by strong renewals, expansion within core services, effective cross‑selling of new capabilities, and continued traction in adjacent and high‑growth markets. Activation decreased by 3.3% on an as-reported basis, driven by lower project demand and volume decreases. There were no inorganic contributions, while foreign‑currency movements decreased reported revenue growth by 0.2%. Organic constant currency growth was 1.2%.

Cash Flow

Cash flows provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2025 were $298.7 million, compared to $73.9 million in 2024, primarily driven by higher profitability and our debt refinancings from July 2024, January 2025, and August 2025 offset by timing related to items in net working capital. Net working capital was impacted by temporarily higher DSOs related to the GfK integration and higher annual performance-based compensation driven by company over-performance in 2024. Capital expenditures for the year ended December 31, 2025 decreased to $262.9 million compared to $298.7 million in 2024 due to increased capital efficiency related to our new tech platform. Free cash flow for the year ended December 31, 2025 increased by $260.6 million, to $35.8 million compared to a $224.8 million deficit in 2024. Free cash flow for the three months ended December 31, 2025 increased by $114.9 million to $90.9 million compared to a deficit of $24.0 million in 2024 driven primarily by year-over-year increases in revenue flow-through to Adjusted EBITDA, increased capital efficiency, lower transformation costs, improved tax efficiency and lower interest expense as a result of our IPO and our debt refinancings from July 2024, January 2025, and August 2025, the last of which is outlined below in “Liquidity, Capital Resources & Recent Financings”.

Liquidity, Capital Resources & Recent Financings

At December 31, 2025 the Company had Cash and cash equivalents of $518.8 million and $750.0 million of available capacity under its Revolver, for a total of $1,268.8 million of available liquidity. On July 11, 2025, we increased our Revolver capacity to $750.0 million. On July 24, 2025, the Company completed its IPO, in which the Company issued 50,000,000 ordinary shares at the initial public offering price of $21.00 per share. The Company received aggregate net proceeds of $985.1 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company and used a portion of these proceeds to repay approximately $533.4 million of outstanding borrowings under its Revolver. On August 12, 2025, we used approximately $387.4 million of the net proceeds from our initial public offering to repay in full the 2021 CAD Term Loan in the amount of C$122.6 million (approximately $89.0 million USD) and to repay €255.0 million (approximately $298.4 million USD) of the EUR Term Loan. This transaction reduced debt and extended the Term Loans' maturities by 2.5 years to October 2030 and reduced the Company's annualized interest expense run rate by approximately $100.0 million.

The average unhedged and hedged interest rates at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025 were 5.4% and 5.6% respectively, which resulted in a total weighted average rate of 5.4%. The convergence of the all-in rates is due to the lower spreads post refinancing and the declining interest rate environment. Our interest rate hedging program is intended not only to provide protection against dramatic interest rate increases but also allow us to participate meaningfully in an improving interest rate environment with greater predictability of cash flows.

Reorganization Pursuant to IPO

On July 22, 2025, in connection with the IPO, NIQ became the direct parent of various entities that were created by Advent International to acquire the business of NIQ from Nielsen Holdings, including AI PAVE Dutchco I B.V. (“AI PAVE”) and the indirect parent of other intermediate holding companies, including AI PAVE Dutchco II B.V., AI PAVE Dutchco III B.V. (collectively, with AI PAVE, the “AI PAVE Entities”), and Intermediate Dutch Holdings B.V., a private company with limited liability organized under the laws of the Netherlands (“Dutch Holdings”) (the “Reorganization”). All holders of equity interests in AI PAVE became shareholders of NIQ.

The “Company,” “NIQ,” “we,” “us” and “our” means, prior to the Reorganization, Dutch Holdings and its consolidated subsidiaries and, after the Reorganization, NIQ Global Intelligence plc and its consolidated subsidiaries. Prior to the effects of the Reorganization and IPO, the unaudited consolidated financial statements present the historical financial information of Dutch Holdings. Subsequent to the Reorganization and IPO, the financial statements were recast to reflect the consolidated financial statements of NIQ Global Intelligence plc and its consolidated subsidiaries, including Dutch Holdings and the AI PAVE Entities, as a transaction between entities under common control. The recast presentation began with the condensed consolidated financial statements as of and for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, the first reporting period following the Reorganization and IPO. All subsequent reporting periods, including the accompanying consolidated financial statements herein, will similarly reflect the recast presentation.

2026 Restructuring Program

In February 2026, the Company approved an incremental cost realignment program (the “2026 Program”) intended to further streamline the organization and drive operational efficiency. The 2026 Program is designed to generate additional annualized cost savings of approximately $55 million to $65 million by the end of fiscal year 2026.

The 2026 Program supports the Company’s ongoing efforts to enhance margin performance through continued optimization of its workforce, enhancements to its sales organization and other support functions, and simplification of overall business processes. Investments in automation and artificial intelligence (“AI”) are anticipated to accelerate the Company’s optimization efforts as it begins its journey to operationalize these digital tools throughout the organization. Collectively, these actions are expected to improve efficiency, customer satisfaction, product innovation, and productivity. The 2026 Program is intended to further reduce costs primarily within selling, general and administrative expenses.

The Company expects to incur total pre-tax restructuring charges of approximately $50 million to $60 million, the substantial majority of which would result in cash expenditures. The Company expects that execution of the 2026 Program will occur primarily in the first half of 2026, subject to local laws and consultation requirements.

First Quarter and Full Year 2026 Outlook

Our outlook is based on a number of assumptions that are subject to change, many of which are outside of the control of the Company. The extent to which external factors affect our business and results of operations are inherently uncertain and depends on numerous evolving factors that we may not be able to accurately predict. There can be no assurance that the Company will achieve the results expressed by this guidance.

• Constant currency growth rates assume foreign currency exchange rates are consistent between years. This allows financial results to be evaluated without the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.
• Organic constant currency growth rates are constant currency growth excluding inorganic growth. Inorganic growth represents growth attributable to the first twelve months of activity for recent business acquisitions.
• For a reconciliation of the above non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, refer to the "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" section of this Earnings Release.

Earnings Webcast Information

In conjunction with this release, NIQ will host a conference call and webcast today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss business results for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The live webcast and a replay of the webcast will be available at the Investor Relations section of NIQ’s website: investors.nielseniq.com. (live and replay).

About NIQ (NYSE: NIQ)

NIQ is a leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. Our global reach spans 90 countries covering approximately 82% of the world’s population, more than half of global gross domestic product, and more than $7.4 trillion in global consumer spend as of December 31, 2025. With a holistic retail read and the most comprehensive consumer insights—delivered with advanced analytics through state-of-the-art platforms—NIQ delivers the Full View™. For more information, please visit www.niq.com.

Availability of Information on NIQ’s Website

Investors and others should note that NIQ routinely announces material information to investors and the marketplace using SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls, webcasts and the NIQ Investor Relations website. While not all of the information that the Company posts to the NIQ Investor Relations website is of a material nature, some information could be deemed to be material. Accordingly, the Company encourages investors, the media and others interested in NIQ to review the information that it shares on investors.nielseniq.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements.” These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by references to future periods or the use of words such as "intends," "designed," “anticipate,” “expect,” “plan,” “could,” “may,” “will,” “believe,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “goal,” “project,” and other words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements address various matters including financial guidance and projected estimates including expectations regarding revenue, leverage, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted EPS, and free cash flow; statements about the Company’s financial position, operating results, and capital allocation priorities, including growth-focused capital expenditures, investments in AI capabilities, and potential tuck-in acquisitions; statements regarding the 2026 Restructuring Program, including expected annualized cost savings, anticipated pre-tax restructuring charges, timing of realization, and expected improvements in efficiency, customer satisfaction, product innovation, and productivity; and statements regarding expected annualized cost savings and timing of realization, anticipated one-time charges and cash expenditures, the Company’s ability to achieve margin expansion, improve operating efficiency, and generate future cash flow, the impact of technology-enabled initiatives including automation and AI on long-term competitiveness, including expectations that AI will strengthen the Company's competitive position, widen its competitive moat, accelerate innovation, and structurally lower its cost base; the Company's interest rate hedging strategy and its expected impact on cash flow predictability, and the Company’s strategic priorities and future financial performance.

Investors: investor.relations@nielseniq.com
Media: media.relations@niq.com