Globaldata posts one third jump in full-year profit as growth plans accelerate

(Sharecast News) - GlobalData continued growing its top and bottom lines in a year marked by the acceleration of its growth plans. Total full-year revenues were ahead by 5% to £285.5m and profit tax by 32% at £54.9m, with earnings per share steady at 3.8p, with the company attributing the latter to trading performance and lower finance costs.

During the year, the company sold 40% of its Healthcare unit to Inflexion Private Equity Partners for a gain of £412m.

"2024 was transformational for GlobalData following Inflexion's significant investment in June 2024, which strengthened our balance sheet and accelerated our growth strategy," GlobalData boss Mike Danson said.

"We have launched and made significant progress in our 2024-26 Growth Transformation Plan, particularly through our AI-first approach. Our AI Hub combines our proprietary data with advanced AI capabilities to deliver enhanced value to our customers and has rapidly gained traction, now serving over 42,000 users."

The transaction allowed the business to flip from £243.9m of bank debt in 2023 to net cash of £10.1m.

It also financed four earnings accretive acquisitions during the reporting period.

Contracted forward revenue at period end stood at £171.4m or 12% higher than a year earlier.

"With strong revenue visibility, a clear transformation roadmap, and the financial capacity to execute, we're confidently progressing toward our target of £500m annualised revenue by 2026".

The total dividend pay-out reduced by 46% to 2.5p.