NIQ Global Intelligence Plc

Q2 reported revenue grew 8% to $1.1 billion, or 5.8% in organic constant currency. Adjusted EBITDA was $262 million, up 21.9% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 270 basis points to 23.3%. Adjusted EPS was $0.27 versus guidance and consensus, and levered free cash flow was $74.1 million, up $137.3 million year over year. Reported net loss was $30.5 million; adjusted net income improved by $80.3 million to $78.7 million. For Q3, NIQ guided to reported revenue growth of approximately 4.9% to 5.3%, organic constant-currency revenue growth of approximately 5.2% to 5.5%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 15% to 17% with margins of 23% to 23.5%, and adjusted EPS of $0.22 to $0.24. For full-year 2026, NIQ raised guidance to reported revenue growth of 7.1% to 7.4%, organic constant-currency growth of 5.2% to 5.6%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 15% to 17% with margins of 23.5% to 23.9%, adjusted EPS of $1.08 to $1.12, and levered free cash flow of $245 million to $255 million; management expects to be below 3x net leverage by year-end.

Jim Peck framed the quarter as proof that NIQ’s core business is executing well while AI becomes a new growth layer. He emphasized strong demand, 10 consecutive quarters of 5%+ organic constant-currency growth, 105% NDR and 99% GDR, and said the company is “moving up the AI value chain” with Optiq Bridge and Connect AI. His tone was confident and expansionary: 2026 is a “foundation building year” for AI monetization, with commercial scaling expected in 2027 and beyond, while margin expansion and cash flow inflection are already visible.

Mike Burwell focused on the financial mechanics behind the outperformance: revenue growth, operating leverage, and AI-enabled productivity gains. He said adjusted EBITDA of $262 million and 23.3% margin were supported by a lower cost structure, with roughly half of the margin improvement coming from restructuring actions and roughly half from revenue flow-through on a largely fixed cost base. He noted one-time restructuring costs of about $36 million in the quarter, cash restructuring spend of $28 million in Q1 and $24 million in Q2, total liquidity of about $1.2 billion, cash and equivalents of $417 million, revolver capacity of $747 million, and net debt of $3.1 billion with leverage down to approximately 3.1x from 3.4x in Q1.

Analysts pressed on whether recent growth was being helped by pull-forward, how sustainable activation strength is, and whether AI monetization is real or still experimental. Management said intelligence and activation momentum remained broad-based, with e-commerce and panel-related areas growing at plus-30% rates and APAC improving to 1.9%, while most of the business is still in 3- to 5-year contracts. On Connect AI and MCP/Optiq Bridge, management described a charter-client phase with 49 live opportunities, dedicated engineers and data scientists, and a pricing model that will mix consumption-based and non-consumption-based approaches as clients adopt the tools.