Record Financial Performance
FY'26 was a record year: revenue from ongoing activities up 13% at actual rates (11% constant) with organic revenue growth of 8% for the year (9% in Q4). Benchmark EBIT grew 15% (13% constant) to over $2.4bn and Benchmark EPS rose 15% (13% constant).
Margin Expansion and Productivity
Benchmark EBIT margin increased to 28.6% with organic constant-currency margin expansion of c.90 basis points in FY'26 (outperforming medium-term guidance). Labor costs as a percentage of revenue fell by over 300 basis points over two years due to productivity gains and AI tooling.
Strong Cash Generation, Returns and Capital Allocation
Benchmark operating cash flow > $2.2bn, funds from operations ~$2.3bn, sustained cash conversion above 90%. ROCE improved to 17.2%. Net debt / Benchmark EBITDA ended at 1.7x. Board increased the full-year dividend by 11% (total $0.6925) and announced an additional $1bn share buyback (bringing announced buybacks to $2bn).
Cloud Migration Progress and Cost Flexibility
Cloud migration targets for North America and Brazil achieved; dual-run costs peaked in FY'26 and are expected to decline, enabling more investment. CapEx to sales was 8.6% and is expected to trend toward the long-term ~7% target (FY'27 guidance ~8%).
AI Strategy and Addressable Market Expansion
Company identified over $15bn of incremental TAM driven by generative AI use cases. Early AI deployment driving coder productivity gains (10–15% average, isolated cases >30%) and reduced labor cost intensity; tangible AI-led products already contributing (e.g., Patient Access Curator).
Product and Platform Momentum
New products contributed $2bn of revenue. Ascend platform adoption increasing: 37 products and >2,300 client solutions on Ascend; platform driving renewals, longer contract terms and cross-sell. Partnerships include ServiceNow and LLM integrations (OpenAI, Google pilot participation).
Consumer Services Scale and Engagement
Consumer Services membership expanded to over 215 million globally; North America Consumer Services revenue > $1.7bn with marketplace up >20% for the year (personal loans particularly strong). Consumer Services in Latin America grew ~23% for FY'26 and reached >$300m annual revenue.
Regional and Vertical Wins
North America organic revenue up 10% (revenue ~$5.6bn), Financial Services up 14% (ex-mortgage core FS growth ~9–10%), mortgage revenue up ~45% for the year, Automotive +13% organic, Healthcare (Patient Access Curator) +9%. Latin America finished strong with Q4 organic growth of 17%.
Selective M&A Strengthening Data and Capabilities
Strategic acquisitions (ClearSale, AtData, Own Up, Compensit, KYC360, Konfir) expanded fraud, identity, mortgage and email intelligence assets (AtData adds 10bn+ email addresses). Completed deals expected to add ~1 percentage point to FY'27 revenue.