GlobalData Reports Modest Growth, Plans £30m Tender Offer and Value Creation Update

GlobalData trading update: modest first-half growth, a £30 million tender offer, and a fresh push on value creation

GlobalData has served up a mixed but quite revealing update for the six months to 30 June 2026. The headline numbers are steady rather than exciting: revenue growth of approximately 3%, underlying revenue growth of approximately 1%, and Adjusted EBITDA growth of approximately 4-5%.

That tells you two things straight away. First, the business is still growing. Second, it is not growing as quickly as management would like, and the company is being pretty open that the sales environment has been tough.

The bigger talking point for many shareholders, though, is capital returns. GlobalData plans to launch a £30 million tender offer at 85 pence per share, alongside its existing £5 million share buy-back programme, taking total capital returns for the year to £45 million, plus £8 million carried over from programmes announced in 2025.

GlobalData key figures from the HY26 trading update

Metric | Update
Revenue growth | Approximately 3%
Underlying revenue growth | Approximately 1%
Contracted Forward Revenue growth | Approximately 6%
Underlying Contracted Forward Revenue growth | 1%
Adjusted EBITDA growth | Approximately 4-5%
Value renewal rate | Approximately 89% (Dec-25: 88%)
Tender offer size | Up to £30 million
Tender offer price | 85 pence per share
Full-year Adjusted EBITDA outlook | Low end of consensus
FY26 consensus revenue range | £330 million – £339 million
FY26 consensus Adjusted EBITDA range | £126 million – £134 million

Why GlobalData’s revenue growth looks a bit sluggish

The weak spot in this announcement is clearly the underlying revenue growth of approximately 1%. When a company talks about “underlying” growth, it usually means stripping out things like acquisitions so investors can see what the existing business did on its own. On that basis, growth was pretty subdued.

Management blames a challenging macro-economic backdrop and longer sales cycles across the industry. That is believable enough, especially for a subscription-based business selling data, insight and technology into corporate customers who may be taking longer to sign off spending.

There is also a split between the two main divisions, and neither exactly shot the lights out. Non-Healthcare underlying revenue growth was approximately 1%, while Healthcare also delivered approximately 1% underlying revenue growth.

More importantly, Healthcare closed the half with an underlying Contracted Forward Revenue decline of 1%. Contracted Forward Revenue is essentially revenue already under contract for future periods, so it can be a useful indicator of momentum. A decline there is not ideal, and management directly tied it to a challenging pharmaceuticals market.

Contracted Forward Revenue and renewal rates show the business is still sticky

There is, however, a more reassuring angle. GlobalData expects to report Contracted Forward Revenue growth of approximately 6%, including underlying growth of 1%, and its value renewal rate was approximately 89%, compared with 88% at December 2025.

That matters because this is a recurring revenue business. If customers keep renewing at high rates, it suggests the products are still valuable and embedded in clients’ workflows. In plain English, the engine is still running, even if it is not accelerating much right now.

The company also says it continues to win new material contracts. It does not disclose the size of those contracts, so investors cannot judge how meaningful they are financially, but the comment at least supports the idea that demand has not fallen off a cliff.

GlobalData’s £30 million tender offer: what it means for shareholders

The most immediate shareholder-friendly move here is the planned £30 million tender offer, due to launch on 10 July 2026 and intended to close on 10 August 2026. A tender offer lets shareholders sell some of their shares back to the company at a fixed price, in this case 85 pence per share.

That can be attractive if the tender price is above where the shares were trading, although this RNS does not state the market price at the time. So whether 85 pence is generous or merely tidy is not disclosed here.

Either way, the signal is clear. The board thinks the shares are undervalued enough, or the balance sheet is strong enough, to justify returning more cash. Combined with the existing £5 million buy-back, the group is leaning quite heavily into capital returns.

For retail investors, that is usually a positive. It can support the share price, improve earnings per share if the share count falls, and shows management is at least trying to turn value into something tangible.

Why the “sum-of-the-parts” comment matters more than it first appears

One of the most interesting lines in the RNS is the board’s view that the sum-of-the-parts value of GlobalData’s portfolio could be much greater than the current market capitalisation. That is boardroom language for saying the market may not be giving full credit to the different businesses inside the group.

This matters because it opens the door to strategic action. That could mean sharper divisional focus, restructuring, acquisitions, disposals, or other steps designed to surface value. The company is not spelling out which route it will take yet, but it has promised more detail on 14 September 2026 with its HY26 results.

In truth, this feels like management preparing investors for a bigger strategic plan. If growth stays pedestrian, then unlocking value through portfolio moves becomes even more important.

Cambridge Healthcare acquisition: sensible bolt-on, but no quick earnings boost

GlobalData also confirmed it completed the acquisition of Cambridge Healthcare within its Healthcare division. The aim is to strengthen its Competitive Intelligence offering for large pharmaceutical clients and improve its position in a fragmented niche market.

This sounds logical enough, but investors should note the company’s wording carefully. It says the deal will add only a minimal amount of Adjusted EBITDA during FY26 as the assets are integrated, with a more normalised contribution expected in FY27.

So this is not a near-term profit kicker. It is more of a strategic bolt-on. Also worth noting: the purchase price is not disclosed.

AI and Microsoft Copilot integration: promising, but still more story than numbers

GlobalData also highlighted the integration of its Ava AI Research Assistant into Microsoft 365 Copilot. Strategically, that makes sense. If customers can pull GlobalData’s proprietary content directly into their workflow, the product may become stickier and potentially more valuable.

That said, this part of the update is still more narrative than numbers. There is no revenue contribution disclosed, no customer uptake figure, and no financial guidance attached to it. Interesting, yes. Proven, not yet.

Outlook: steady fundamentals, but GlobalData still needs to prove it can re-accelerate growth

The outlook is probably best described as cautiously stable. Demand is said to remain robust, renewal rates are solid, and the recurring revenue model gives decent visibility.

But the company also expects full-year Adjusted EBITDA at the low end of consensus. That is not disastrous, but it is hardly a booming statement either. It suggests management is having to work harder on margins while revenue growth remains under pressure.

There is some comfort in extra financing headroom too. GlobalData has upsized its existing non-Healthcare facility by £60 million to £245 million and extended the £200 million Healthcare facility by a further year to December 2028. That gives it flexibility for M&A and capital allocation, which fits the broader value creation message.

My take on the GlobalData RNS for retail investors

This is a decent update, but not a blockbuster one. The positives are clear: recurring revenues remain resilient, renewal rates are good, cash is being returned through a meaningful tender offer, and management is openly talking about hidden value in the portfolio.

The negatives are just as clear. Underlying growth of approximately 1% is soft, Healthcare forward revenue slipped, and full-year earnings are only expected at the low end of consensus. That is not the profile of a company firing on all cylinders.

So the investment case from this RNS is shifting a bit. It looks less like a straightforward growth story and more like a mix of steady cash generation, shareholder returns, and a possible strategic value-unlocking plan.

The next big date is 14 September 2026. If management can show a credible route to faster growth across the asset portfolio, this update may end up looking like a holding pattern before something more interesting. If not, investors may start to wonder whether the tender offer is doing more of the heavy lifting than the trading performance itself.