Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of the Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large accelerated filer
☒
Accelerated filer
☐
Non-accelerated filer
☐
Smaller reporting company
☐
Emerging growth company
☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
As of May 5, 2025, there were 104,899,645 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding.
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited)
1. Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of ACI Worldwide, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”). All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated. The condensed consolidated financial statements as of March 31, 2025, and for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, are unaudited and reflect all adjustments of a normal recurring nature, which are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation, in all material respects, of the financial position and operating results for the interim periods. The condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2024, is derived from the audited financial statements.
The condensed consolidated financial statements contained herein should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto contained in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, filed on February 27, 2025. Results for the three months ended March 31, 2025, are not necessarily indicative of results that may be attained in the future.
The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make judgments, estimates, and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. These estimates and assumptions are affected by management’s application of accounting policies, as well as uncertainty in the current economic environment. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Other Current Liabilities
The components of other current liabilities are included in the following table (in thousands):
March 31, 2025
December 31, 2024
Vendor financed licenses
$
12,717
$
14,462
Operating lease liabilities
8,402
9,265
Income taxes payable
8,006
3,284
Accrued interest
3,020
8,810
Other
39,582
37,987
Total other current liabilities
$
71,727
$
73,808
Settlement Assets and Liabilities
Individuals and businesses settle their obligations to the Company’s various Biller clients using credit or debit cards or via automated clearing house (“ACH”) payments. The Company creates a receivable for the amount due from the credit or debit card processor and an offsetting payable to the client. Upon confirmation that the funds have been received, the Company settles the obligation to the client. Due to timing, in some instances, the Company may (1) receive the funds into bank accounts controlled by and in the Company’s name that are not disbursed to its clients by the end of the day, resulting in a settlement deposit on the Company’s books and (2) disburse funds to its clients in advance of receiving funds from the credit or debit card processor, resulting in a net settlement receivable position.
Off Balance Sheet Settlement Accounts
The Company also enters into agreements with certain Biller clients to process payment funds on their behalf. When an ACH or automated teller machine network payment transaction is processed, a transaction is initiated to withdraw funds from the designated source account and deposit them into a settlement account, which is a trust account maintained for the benefit of the Company’s clients. A simultaneous transaction is initiated to transfer funds from the settlement account to the intended destination account. These “back to back” transactions are designed to settle at the same time, usually overnight, such that the Company receives the funds from the source at the same time as it sends the funds to their destination. However, due to the transactions being with various financial institutions there may be timing differences that result in float balances. These funds are maintained in accounts for the benefit of the client which is separate from the Company’s corporate assets. As the Company does not take ownership of the funds, these settlement accounts are not included in the Company’s balance sheet. The Company is entitled to interest earned on the fund balances. The collection of interest on these settlement accounts is considered in the
Company’s determination of its fee structure for clients and represents a portion of the payment for services performed by the Company. The amount of settlement funds as of March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, was $224.1 million and $267.0 million, respectively.
Fair Value
The fair value of the Company’s Credit Agreement approximates the carrying value due to the floating interest rate (Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy). The Company measures the fair value of its Senior Notes based on Level 2 inputs, which include quoted market prices and interest rate spreads of similar securities. The fair value of the Company’s 5.750% Senior Notes due 2026 (“2026 Notes”) was $401.7 million and $399.2 million as of March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, respectively.
The fair values of cash and cash equivalents approximate the carrying values due to the short period of time to maturity (Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy).
Goodwill
In accordance with the Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 350, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other, the Company assesses goodwill for impairment annually during the fourth quarter of its fiscal year using October 1 balances or when there is evidence that events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be recovered. The Company evaluates goodwill at the reporting unit level, and as discussed in Note 9, Segment Information, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, it realigned Banks and Merchants under a single general manager leading Payment Software. This change also resulted in a change in reporting units - combining Banks and Merchants into Payment Software, while maintaining Biller. As of March 31, 2025, the Company's goodwill balance of $1.2 billion was allocated $809.0 million to Payment Software and $417.0 million to Biller.
Recoverability of goodwill is measured using a discounted cash flow model incorporating discount rates commensurate with the risks involved. Use of a discounted cash flow model is common practice in impairment testing in the absence of available transactional market evidence to determine the fair value. The calculated fair value was substantially in excess of the current carrying value for all reporting units based upon the October 1, 2024, annual impairment test and there have been no indications of impairment in the subsequent periods.
Equity Method Investment
In July 2019, the Company invested $18.3 million for a 30% non-controlling financial interest in a payment technology and services company in India. The Company accounted for this investment using the equity method in accordance with ASC 323, Investments - Equity Method and Joint Ventures, and recorded its share of earnings and losses in the investment on a one-quarter lag basis. The Company had recorded an investment of $18.6 million, included in other noncurrent assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2024. In March 2025, the Company sold its 30% interest for $46.0 million. The Company recognized a gain on the sale of $25.9 million, which is recorded in other, net in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Recently Issued Accounting Standards Not Yet Effective
In November 2024, the FASB issued ASU 2024-03, Income Statement—Reporting Comprehensive Income—Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses. The amendments in this update will require entities to provide disaggregated disclosures of specific expense categories underlying certain income statement expense line items on an annual and interim basis. ASU 2024-03 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and early application is permitted for annual financial statements that have not yet been issued or made available for issuance. The Company is currently assessing the impact that the adoption of ASU 2024-03 will have on its financial statement footnote disclosures.
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures, to enhance the transparency and decision usefulness of income tax disclosures. The amendments in this update will require disclosure of more disaggregated information about a reporting entity's effective tax rate reconciliation and income taxes paid. ASU 2023-09 is effective for our annual period beginning after December 15, 2024. ASU 2023-09 is expected to impact our income tax disclosures beginning with the consolidated financial statements included in the annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, but is not expected to have an impact on the Company's financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
In accordance with ASC 606, Revenue From Contracts With Customers, revenue is recognized upon transfer of control of promised products and/or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for those products and services. Revenue is recognized net of any taxes collected from customers and subsequently remitted to governmental authorities. See Note 9, Segment Information, for additional information, including disaggregation of revenue based on primary solution category.
Total receivables represent amounts billed and amounts earned that are to be billed in the future (i.e., accrued receivables). Included in accrued receivables are services, software as a service ("SaaS"), and platform as a service ("PaaS") revenues earned in the current period but billed in the following period and amounts due under multi-year software license arrangements with extended payment terms for which the Company has an unconditional right to invoice and receive payment subsequent to invoicing.
Total receivables, net is comprised of the following (in thousands):
March 31, 2025
December 31, 2024
Billed receivables
$
169,631
$
198,486
Allowance for doubtful accounts
(1,725)
(1,758)
Billed receivables, net
167,906
196,728
Current accrued receivables, net
218,177
217,671
Long-term accrued receivables, net
353,767
360,079
Total accrued receivables, net
571,944
577,750
Total receivables, net
$
739,850
$
774,478
No customer accounted for more than 10% of the Company’s consolidated receivables balance as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024.
Deferred revenue includes amounts due or received from customers for software licenses, maintenance, services, and/or SaaS and PaaS services in advance of recording the related revenue.
Changes in deferred revenue were as follows (in thousands):
Balance, December 31, 2024
$
94,723
Deferral of revenue
34,117
Recognition of deferred revenue
(38,543)
Foreign currency translation
589
Balance, March 31, 2025
$
90,886
Revenue allocated to remaining performance obligations represents contracted revenue that will be recognized in future periods, which is comprised of deferred revenue and amounts that will be invoiced and recognized as revenue in future periods. This does not include:
•Revenue that will be recognized in future periods from capacity overages that are accounted for as a usage-based royalty.
•SaaS and PaaS revenue from variable consideration that will be recognized in accordance with the ‘right to invoice’ practical expedient or meets the allocation objective.
Revenue allocated to remaining performance obligations was $661.4 million as of March 31, 2025, of which the Company expects to recognize approximately 51% over the next 12 months and the remainder thereafter.
During the three months ended March 31, 2025, revenue recognized by the Company from performance obligations satisfied in previous periods was $19.6 million.
As of March 31, 2025, the Company had $453.1 million, and $400.0 million outstanding under its Term Loans and Senior Notes, respectively. There was no amount outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility, with up to $598.1 million of unused borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility portion of the Credit Agreement, as amended, and up to $1.9 million of unused borrowings under Letter of Credit agreements. The amount of unused borrowings actually available varies in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
Credit Agreement
On February 26, 2024, ACI Worldwide, Inc. (the “Company”) entered into a Refinance Amendment (the “Amendment”) to the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of April 5, 2019 (as amended, restated, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time, including by the Amendment, the “Credit Agreement”) among the Company, the subsidiary borrowers from time to time party thereto, the lenders from time to time party thereto, Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent and a lender, BofA Securities, Inc., PNC Capital Markets LLC, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, and TD Securities (USA) LLC, as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners, and the other financial institutions party thereto.
The Amendment (i) provides a senior secured term loan facility (the “Term Loan Facility”) in an aggregate principal amount of $500 million, (ii) provides a senior secured revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Loan Facility” and together with the Term Loan Facility, the “Credit Facilities”) of up to $600 million, and (iii) extends the maturity date of the Facilities to February 26, 2029 (the “Maturity Date”), provided that if any of the Company’s 5.750% Senior Notes due 2026 are outstanding on the date that is 91 days before the maturity thereof (the “Springing Maturity Date”), and the Company does not have sufficient liquidity as of such date, the Maturity Date will be the Springing Maturity Date. The Revolving Loan Facility includes a $35 million sublimit for the issuance of standby letters of credit and a $20 million sublimit for swingline loans. Amounts repaid under the Revolving Facility may be reborrowed.
Borrowings under the Credit Facilities bear interest at a rate equal to, at borrower's option, either (A) a base rate determined by reference to the highest of (1) the rate of interest per annum publicly announced by Bank of America as its prime rate, (2) the federal funds effective rate plus 0.5%, (3) term Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") plus 1%, and (4) 1% or (B) term SOFR for applicable interest period relevant to such borrowing, in each case plus an applicable margin. The applicable margin for borrowings under the Credit Facilities is, based on the calculation of the applicable consolidated total leverage ratio, between 0.5% to 1.5% with respect to base rate borrowings and between 1.5% and 2.5% with respect to term SOFR rate borrowings. Interest is due and payable monthly. The interest rate in effect for the Credit Facility as of March 31, 2025, was 6.17%.
The Company is also required to pay customary fees under the Credit Facilities, including (a) a commitment fee related to the unutilized commitments under the Revolving Credit Facility, (b) letter of credit fees including fronting fees and commissions on the maximum amount available to be drawn under all outstanding letters of credit, and (c) agency fees.
The Company’s subsidiaries, ACI Worldwide Corp. and ACI Payments, Inc. are co-borrowers under the Credit Agreement. The obligations of the borrowers under the Credit Facilities and the obligations of the Company and its subsidiaries under cash management arrangements entered into with lenders under the Credit Facilities (or affiliates thereof) are jointly and severally guaranteed by the Company and all of its existing and future material domestic subsidiaries, subject to certain exclusions. The obligations of the borrowers in respect of the Credit Facilities are secured by first-priority security interests in substantially all assets of the borrowers, including 100% of the capital stock of each domestic subsidiary of the borrower and 65% of the voting capital stock of each foreign subsidiary that is directly owned by a borrower, in each case subject to certain exclusions set forth in the Credit Agreement.
The Credit Agreement contains customary negative covenants that, among other things, restrict the Company’s ability to incur additional indebtedness, grant additional liens, and make certain acquisitions, investments, asset dispositions, and restricted payments. In addition, the Credit Agreement contains financial covenants that require the Company to maintain, as of the end of any fiscal quarter, (i) a consolidated total net leverage ratio of less than or equal to 4.25 to 1.00, (ii) a consolidated senior secured net leverage ratio of less than or equal to 3.75 to 1.00, and (iii) a minimum consolidated interest coverage ratio of greater than or equal to 3.00 to 1.00, in each case subject to certain exclusions as set forth in the Credit Agreement.
The Credit Agreement also contains certain customary affirmative covenants and events of default. If an event of default, as specified in the Credit Agreement, shall occur and be continuing, the Company may be required to repay all amounts outstanding under the Credit Facilities.
On August 21, 2018, the Company completed a $400.0 million offering of the 2026 Notes at an issue price of 100% of the principal amount in a private placement for resale to qualified institutional buyers. The 2026 Notes bear interest at an annual rate of 5.750%, payable semi-annually in arrears on February 15 and August 15 of each year. The 2026 Notes will mature on August 15, 2026.
Maturities on debt outstanding as of March 31, 2025, are as follows (in thousands):
Fiscal Year Ending December 31,
Remainder of 2025
$
28,125
2026
437,500
2027
37,500
2028
37,500
2029
312,500
Thereafter
—
Total
$
853,125
As of March 31, 2025, and at all times during the period, the Company was in compliance with its financial debt covenants.
Total debt is comprised of the following (in thousands):
March 31, 2025
December 31, 2024
Term loans
$
453,125
$
462,500
Revolving credit facility
—
70,000
5.750% Senior notes, due August 2026
400,000
400,000
Debt issuance costs
(7,274)
(7,923)
Total debt
845,851
924,577
Less: current portion of term loans
37,500
37,500
Less: current portion of debt issuance costs
(2,555)
(2,572)
Total long-term debt
$
810,906
$
889,649
Overdraft Facility
In 2019, the Company and ACI Payments, Inc. entered in to an uncommitted overdraft facility with Bank of America, N.A. The overdraft facility bears interest at the federal funds effective rate plus 2.25% based on the Company’s average outstanding balance and the frequency in which overdrafts occur. The overdraft facility acts as a secured loan under the terms of the Credit Agreement to provide an additional funding mechanism for timing differences that can occur in the bill payment settlement process. Amounts outstanding on the overdraft facility are included in other current liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheet. As of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, there was $75.0 million available and no amount outstanding on the overdraft facility.
The carrying amount and accumulated amortization of the Company's software assets subject to amortization at each balance sheet date are as follows (in thousands):
March 31, 2025
December 31, 2024
Gross Carrying Amount
Accumulated Amortization
Net Balance
Gross Carrying Amount
Accumulated Amortization
Net Balance
Software for internal use
$
490,497
$
(406,759)
$
83,738
$
488,257
$
(395,364)
$
92,893
Amortization of software for internal use is computed using the straight-line method over an estimated useful life of generally three to eight years. Software for internal use amortization expense recorded during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, totaled $15.6 million and $15.5 million, respectively. These software amortization expense amounts are reflected in depreciation and amortization in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.
The carrying amount and accumulated amortization of the Company’s other intangible assets subject to amortization at each balance sheet date are as follows (in thousands):
March 31, 2025
December 31, 2024
Gross Carrying Amount
Accumulated Amortization
Net Balance
Gross Carrying Amount
Accumulated Amortization
Net Balance
Customer relationships
$
447,001
$
(286,285)
$
160,716
$
444,385
$
(279,008)
$
165,377
Other intangible assets amortization expense recorded during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, totaled $5.2 million and $8.5 million, respectively.
Based on capitalized intangible assets as of March 31, 2025, estimated amortization expense amounts in future fiscal years are as follows (in thousands):
Shares issued under the 2017 Employee Stock Purchase Plan during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, totaled 17,412 and 27,550, respectively.
Stock Options
A summary of stock option activity is as follows:
Number of Shares
Weighted Average Exercise Price ($)
Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term (Years)
Aggregate Intrinsic Value of In-the-Money Options ($)
Outstanding as of December 31, 2024
539,270
$
18.65
Exercised
(32,518)
17.89
Outstanding as of March 31, 2025
506,752
$
18.69
1.25
$
18,251,161
Exercisable as of March 31, 2025
506,752
$
18.69
1.25
$
18,251,161
The total intrinsic value of stock options exercised during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, was $1.2 million and $0.3 million, respectively. There were no stock options granted during the three months ended March 31, 2025 or 2024.
Performance Share Awards
During the three months ended March 31, 2025, pursuant to the Company's 2020 Equity and Incentive Compensation Plan, the Company granted performance share awards with a total shareholder return component ("TSRs"). These performance share awards are earned, if at all, based upon achievement, over a specified period that must not be less than one year and is typically a three-year performance period. The awards have operating performance goals that include (i) adjusted EBITDA metrics and (ii) revenue growth rates as determined by the Company with a TSR multiplier up to plus or minus 20%. Up to 200% of the performance shares could be earned upon achievement of the performance goals, including the multiplier. On a quarterly basis, management evaluates the probability that the threshold performance goals will be achieved, if at all, and the anticipated level of attainment to determine the amount of compensation expense to record in the consolidated financial statements.
A summary of nonvested TSRs is as follows:
Number of Shares
Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Nonvested as of December 31, 2024
952,481
$
35.21
Granted
459,741
59.78
Forfeited
(19,415)
39.54
Nonvested as of March 31, 2025
1,392,807
$
43.26
The fair value of TSRs granted during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, were estimated on the date of grant using the Monte Carlo simulation model, acceptable under ASC 718, Compensation - Stock Compensation, using the following weighted average assumptions:
A summary of nonvested restricted share unit awards ("RSUs") is as follows:
Number of Shares
Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Nonvested as of December 31, 2024
1,727,524
$
29.95
Granted
869,699
53.70
Vested
(362,138)
30.29
Forfeited
(54,138)
34.87
Nonvested as of March 31, 2025
2,180,947
$
39.24
During the three months ended March 31, 2025, a total of 362,138 RSUs vested. The Company withheld 128,772 of those shares to pay the employees’ portion of the minimum payroll withholding taxes.
As of March 31, 2025, there was unrecognized compensation expense of $80.3 million related to RSUs and $37.9 million related to TSRs, which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted average period of 2.4 years and 1.9 years, respectively.
The Company recorded stock-based compensation expense recognized under ASC 718 for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, of $11.6 million and $8.1 million, respectively, with corresponding tax benefits of $1.8 million and $1.4 million, respectively.
6. Common Stock and Treasury Stock
In 2005, the board approved a stock repurchase program authorizing the Company, as market and business conditions warrant, to acquire its common stock and periodically authorize additional funds for the program. In June 2024, the board approved the repurchase of the Company's common stock of up to $400.0 million, in place of the remaining purchase amounts previously authorized.
The Company repurchased 264,936 shares for $14.4 million during the three months ended March 31, 2025. Under the program to date, the Company has repurchased 63,132,773 shares for approximately $1.1 billion. As of March 31, 2025, the maximum remaining amount authorized for purchase under the stock repurchase program was $358.1 million.
Subsequent to March 31, 2025, the Company has repurchased additional shares under the repurchase program.
7. Earnings (Loss) Per Share
Basic earnings (loss) per share is computed in accordance with ASC 260, Earnings Per Share, based on weighted average outstanding common shares. Diluted earnings (loss) per share is computed based on basic weighted average outstanding common shares adjusted for the dilutive effect of stock options, RSUs, and certain contingently issuable shares for which performance targets have been achieved.
The following table reconciles the weighted average share amounts used to compute both basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share (in thousands):
Three Months Ended March 31,
2025
2024
Weighted average shares outstanding:
Basic weighted average shares outstanding
105,350
106,799
Add: Dilutive effect of stock options, RSUs, and contingently issuable shares
The diluted earnings (loss) per share computation excludes 1.4 million and 4.4 million options to purchase shares, RSUs, and contingently issuable shares during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, as their effect would be anti-dilutive.
Common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, was 105,273,273 and 105,254,913, respectively.
8. Other, Net
Other, net is primarily comprised of foreign currency transaction gains and losses and, for the three months ended March 31, 2025, the $25.9 million gain on the sale of the Company's equity method investment. Other, net was $23.7 million of income and $2.0 million of expense for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
9. Segment Information
In 2025, the Company made a change in organizational structure to align with its strategic direction. As a result of this change, the Company reassessed its segment reporting structure due to changes in leadership structure and how the Company's chief operating decision maker ("CODM") assesses the Company's performance and allocates resources. Beginning in the first quarter of 2025, the Company reports financial performance based on its new operating segments, Payment Software, which includes bank and merchant customers, and Biller. The Company continues to use Segment Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of segment profitability.
The Company’s Chief Executive Officer is also the chief operating decision maker. The CODM, together with other senior management personnel, focus their review on consolidated financial information and the allocation of resources based on operating results, including revenues and Segment Adjusted EBITDA, for each segment, separate from corporate operations. No operating segments have been aggregated to form the reportable segments.
Payment Software. Payment Software drives payments orchestration for banks and merchants. ACI provides payment solutions to large and mid-size banks globally for retail banking, digital, and other payment services. These solutions transform banks’ complex payment environments to speed time to market, reduce costs, and deliver a consistent experience to customers across channels while enabling them to prevent and rapidly react to fraudulent activity. In addition, they enable banks to meet the requirements of different real-time payments schemes and to quickly create differentiated products to meet consumer, business, and merchant demands. ACI’s support of merchants globally includes Tier 1 and Tier 2 merchants (in-store and online), payment service providers, independent selling organizations, value-added resellers, and acquirers who service them. These customers operate in a variety of verticals, including general retail, grocery, hospitality, dining, travel and ticketing, fuel, telecommunications, and others. The Company's solutions provide merchants with a secure, omnichannel payments platform that gives them flexibility and independence. The Company also offers secure solutions to online-only merchants that provide consumers with a convenient and seamless way to shop.
Biller. Within the Biller segment, ACI provides electronic bill presentment and payment services to companies operating in the consumer finance, insurance, healthcare, higher education, utility, government, mortgage, subscription provider, and telecommunications categories. The solutions enable these customers to support a wide range of payment options and provide a convenient consumer payments experience that drives consumer loyalty and increases revenue. ACI also provides fraud abuse protection to its Biller customers leveraging its proven AI, human, and data capabilities.
Revenue is attributed to the reportable segments based upon customer and product. Expenses are attributed to the reportable segments in one of three methods: (1) direct costs of the segment, (2) labor costs that can be attributed based upon time tracking for individual projects, or (3) costs that are allocated. Allocated costs are generally marketing and sales related activities.
Segment Adjusted EBITDA is the measure reported to the CODM for purposes of making decisions on allocating resources and assessing the performance of the Company’s segments, including budget and forecast-to-actual variances, and, therefore, Segment Adjusted EBITDA is presented in conformity with ASC 280, Segment Reporting. Segment Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings from operations before interest, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) adjusted to exclude net other income (expense).
Corporate and unallocated expenses includes global facilities and information technology costs and long-term product roadmap expenses in addition to corporate overhead costs that are not allocated to reportable segments. The overhead costs relate to human resources, finance, legal, accounting, and merger and acquisition activity. These costs along with depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation are not considered when management evaluates segment performance.
The following is selected financial data for the Company’s reportable segments for the periods indicated (in thousands):
Three Months Ended March 31, 2025
Payment Software
Biller
Total
Revenue
$
200,725
$
193,840
$
394,565
Less:
Interchange (a)
—
130,828
130,828
Global technology and innovation (b)
64,667
13,236
77,903
Other segment items (c)
29,497
18,881
48,378
Segment Adjusted EBITDA
$
106,561
$
30,895
$
137,456
Reconciliation of income before income taxes
Depreciation and amortization
(23,985)
Stock-based compensation expense
(11,627)
Corporate and unallocated expenses
(43,328)
Interest, net
(10,619)
Other, net
23,740
Income before income taxes
$
71,637
Three Months Ended March 31, 2024
Payment Software
Biller
Total
Revenue
$
141,157
$
174,862
$
316,019
Less:
Interchange (a)
—
112,394
112,394
Global technology and innovation (b)
60,432
11,983
72,415
Other segment items (c)
28,436
19,748
48,184
Segment Adjusted EBITDA
$
52,289
$
30,737
$
83,026
Reconciliation of loss before income taxes
Depreciation and amortization
(27,609)
Stock-based compensation expense
(8,099)
Corporate and unallocated expenses
(37,758)
Interest, net
(15,001)
Other, net
(2,025)
Loss before income taxes
$
(7,466)
(a) Interchange – Interchange costs include all payment card interchange fees, amounts payable to banks, and payment card processing fees associated with providing services to Biller customers.
(b) Global Technology & Innovation – (“GTI”) costs include the costs of maintaining software products, as well as the costs required to deliver, install, and support software at customer sites. It also includes maintenance costs, which are the efforts associated with providing the customer with upgrades, 24-hour help desk, post go-live (remote) support, and production-type support for software that was previously installed at a customer location. GTI includes costs to provide SaaS and PaaS services including our data center operations. Service costs including human resource and other incidental costs such as travel and training required for both pre go-live and post go-live support. Such efforts include project management, delivery, product customization and implementation, installation support, consulting, configuration, and on-site support. GTI also includes research and development expenses which are primarily human resource costs related to the creation of new products, improvements made to existing products, as well as compatibility with new operating system releases and generations of hardware.
(c) Other segment items – other includes selling and marketing, product management, third-party royalties and other cost of goods sold excluding interchange. Selling and marketing costs, which are the costs related to selling our products to current and prospective customers as well as the costs related to promoting the Company, its products and the research efforts required to measure customers’ future needs and satisfaction levels. Selling costs are primarily the human resource and travel costs related to the effort expended to license our products and services to current and potential clients within defined territories and/or industries as well as the management of the overall relationship with customer accounts. Selling costs also include the costs associated with assisting distributors in their efforts to sell our products and services in their respective local markets. Product management costs are primarily the human resource costs related to developing and documenting our product requirements.
Assets are not allocated to segments, and the Company’s CODM does not evaluate operating segments using discrete asset information.
The following is revenue by primary solution category for the Company’s reportable segments for the periods indicated (in thousands):
The following is the Company's revenue by geographic location for the periods indicated (in thousands):
Three Months Ended March 31,
2025
2024
Revenue
United States
$
236,754
$
228,107
Other
157,811
87,912
Total
$
394,565
$
316,019
The following is the Company’s long-lived assets by geographic location for the periods indicated (in thousands):
March 31, 2025
December 31, 2024
Long-lived Assets
United States
$
1,145,477
$
1,169,965
Other
772,404
791,793
Total
$
1,917,881
$
1,961,758
No single customer accounted for more than 10% of the Company’s consolidated revenues during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024. No other country outside the United States accounted for more than 10% of the Company's consolidated revenues during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024.
10. Income Taxes
For the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company's effective tax rate was 18%. The Company reported a tax charge on pretax income, with foreign entities recognizing earnings of $80.2 million. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2025, was positively impacted by excess tax deductions on stock-based compensation expense.
For the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company's effective tax rate was negative 4%. The Company reported a tax charge on an overall pretax loss, with foreign entities reporting losses of $11.1 million. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2024, was negatively impacted by excess tax limitations on stock-based compensation expense.
The Company’s effective tax rate could fluctuate on a quarterly basis due to the occurrence of significant and unusual or infrequent items, such as vesting of stock-based compensation or foreign currency gains and losses. The Company’s effective tax rate could also fluctuate due to changes in the valuation of its deferred tax assets or liabilities, or by changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles, or interpretations thereof. In addition, the Company is occasionally subject to examination of its income tax returns by tax authorities in the jurisdictions it operates. The Company regularly assesses the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of its provision for income taxes.
As of March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, the amount of unrecognized tax benefits for uncertain tax positions was $21.1 million and $21.0 million, respectively, excluding related liabilities for interest and penalties of $0.4 million.
The Company believes it is reasonably possible that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will decrease within the next 12 months by approximately $0.8 million, due to the settlement of various audits and the expiration of statutes of limitation.
ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Forward-Looking Statements
This report contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Generally, forward-looking statements do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and may include words or phrases such as “believes,” “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” and words and phrases of similar impact. The forward-looking statements are made pursuant to safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended.
Forward-looking statements in this report include, but are not limited to, statements regarding future operations, business strategy, business environment, key trends, and, in each case, statements related to expected financial and other benefits. Many of these factors will be important in determining our actual future results. Any or all of the forward-looking statements in this report may turn out to be incorrect. They may be based on inaccurate assumptions or may not account for known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Actual future results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, we disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date of this report, except as required by law.
All forward-looking statements in this report are expressly qualified by the risk factors discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The cautionary statements in this report expressly qualify all of our forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those discussed in our Risk Factors in Part 1, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, and in Part 2, Item 1A of this Form 10-Q.
The following discussion should be read together with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, and with our financial statements and related notes contained in this Form 10-Q. Results for the three months ended March 31, 2025, are not necessarily indicative of results that may be attained in the future.
Overview
ACI Worldwide, an innovator in global payments technology, delivers software solutions that power intelligent payments orchestration in real time so banks, merchants, and billers can drive growth, while continuously modernizing their payment infrastructures, simply and securely. With nearly 50 years of trusted payments expertise, we combine our global footprint with a local presence to offer enhanced payment experiences to stay ahead of constantly changing payment challenges and opportunities.
Our products are sold and supported directly and through distribution networks covering three geographic regions – the Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa (“EMEA”); and Asia Pacific. Each region has its own globally coordinated sales force, supplemented with local independent reseller and/or distributor networks. Our products and solutions are marketed under the ACI Worldwide brand and used globally by banks of all sizes, central banks, intermediaries, merchants, and billers, such as third-party digital payment processors, payment associations, switch interchanges, and a wide range of transaction-generating endpoints, including ATMs, merchant point-of-sale (“POS”) terminals, bank branches, mobile phones, tablets, corporations, and internet commerce sites.
We derive a majority of our revenues from domestic operations and believe we have large opportunities for growth in international markets, as well as continued expansion domestically in the United States. We also continue to maintain centers of expertise in Timisoara, Romania, and Pune and Bangalore in India, as well as key operational centers such as in Cape Town, South Africa and in multiple locations in the United States.
Our business and operating results are influenced by trends such as information technology spending levels, the growth rate of digital payments, mandated regulatory changes, and changes in the number and type of customers in the financial services industry, as well as economic growth, and purchasing habits.
Key trends that currently impact our strategies and operations include:
Increasing digital payment transaction volumes. The adoption of digital payments continues to accelerate, propelled by the digitization of cash, financial inclusion efforts of countries throughout the world, rapid growth of eCommerce, and the adoption of real-time payments enabling more people, governments, and businesses to embrace digital payments. We leverage the growth in transaction volumes through the licensing of new systems to customers whose older systems cannot handle increased volume, through the sale of capacity upgrades to existing customers, and through the scalability of our platform-based solutions.
Adoption of real-time payments. Expectations from both consumers and businesses are continuing to drive the payments world to more real-time delivery. This is bolstered by the new data-rich ISO 20022 messaging format prevalent in account-to-account payments, which is delivering greater value to banks and their customers and has now been rolled out across the world and continues to see adoption with local schemes, such as FedWire, planned for 2025. We are seeing global players with existing schemes working to expand capacity in anticipation of volume growth and new payment types. Domestic schemes such as Unified Payments Interface ("UPI") in India and others are being made available to their citizens for cross-border transactions when abroad. Mature markets, including India, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, continue to accelerate innovation, especially in terms of overlay services, driving new transactions. The United States is driving real-time payments adoption through TCH Real-Time Payments and the FedNow Service. Asia is one of the most innovative markets for adoption of real-time payment systems. According to ACI’s Prime Time for Real-Time report, Asia Pacific is the largest regional market, with four of the global top five real-time payment markets by volume. ACI provides solutions for commercial and central banks across Asia. Latin American countries are pushing ahead with real-time payments modernization initiatives, looking to replicate Brazil’s success with PIX. ACI is also providing solutions centrally in Colombia and Peru. We are seeing success with real-time payments in the Middle East as well, as they have started to renovate their payment systems from legacy payment types to the modern digital and real-time world. ACI's broad software portfolio, experience, and strategic partnerships with Mastercard, Microsoft, and Red Hat, and Mindgate Solutions continue to position us as a leader in real-time payments, helping to drive seamless connectivity, increased security, and end-to-end modernization for organizations throughout the world.
Adoption of cloud technology. ACI has recognized the industry's technical inflection point in the transition from traditional on-premises infrastructure to the private and public cloud, and we are supporting our customers' cloud strategies. Cloud technology innovations allow the financial services ecosystem to remove technical risk from their operations, accelerate innovation and time to market for new revenue-generating solutions for their customers, and accelerate innovation and ensure scalability and resiliency while improving operating economics over time. As banks and intermediaries, merchants, and billers seek to transition their systems to make use of cloud technology, our investments and partnerships, as demonstrated by our product enablement and initial optimization onto Microsoft Azure, enable us to leverage those cloud technology benefits today and for the future while preserving ACI's fundamental base of performance, resiliency, and scalability. Cloud-native solutions running in a multi-tenant SaaS environment also allow ACI to expand our market coverage to smaller institutions, offering scalable solutions which are easy to integrate with but at price points that fit their budgets.
Payments intelligence, fraud, and compliance. The accelerated adoption of real-time payments, fraudsters leveraging artificial intelligence, and the ramping up of mandates increase the urgency for industry-wide collaboration to mitigate fraud with precision and achieve operational excellence. As the threat of sophisticated fraud becomes a greater concern for remitting and receiving institutions, consumers are challenged with increased friction to prevent illegitimate access of genuine accounts or funds to protect the consumer trust and confidence, while achieving their strategic objectives. Regulators are beginning to litigate between consumers and financial institutions on the losses, and between remitting and receiving banks on the accountability. Banks and intermediaries, merchants, and billers are pursuing solutions to mitigate their risks while improving their customer experience, protecting their margins, and securing their revenue streams, especially with their new products and offerings. We continue to evolve our advanced machine learning and network intelligence capabilities to stop criminals and enable frictionless, legitimate business. Meanwhile, with payments intelligence, organizations can integrate intelligent services to enhance consumer relationships while achieving precise, real-time fraud and risk mitigation capabilities.
Omni-commerce. Shoppers are increasingly browsing, buying, and returning items across channels, including in-store, online, and mobile. This trend has led to an increase in contactless payments, click and collect, and curbside collection. Merchants from all industries, including grocers, fuel and convenience stores, are being tasked with delivering seamless experiences that include pay-in-aisle, kiosks, mobile app payments, QR code payments, eCommerce, traditional and mobile POS, buy online pickup in-store (BOPIS), and buy online return in-store (BORIS). We believe there is significant opportunity to provide merchants with the tools to deliver a seamless, secure, personalized experience that creates loyalty and satisfaction, and drives conversion rates while protecting consumer data and preventing fraud.
Open banking.Open banking is gaining momentum globally, and while it has been accelerated in Europe by regulations like PSD3, the United States is also seeing significant shifts driven by market demand and technology innovation rather than regulatory mandates. In the United States, the growing adoption of Request to Pay (RTP) offers an alternative to traditional bill payment methods, allowing payers to respond directly to payment requests with flexibility on timing, method, and amount. This aligns with the broader movement toward real-time payments, supported by platforms like the FedNow® Service and The Clearing House’s RTP network. While the United States doesn't have a regulatory equivalent to PSD3, there's a strong push for open banking solutions that provide greater control and transparency for consumers, and RTP is a key trend within that space. By embracing both RTP and open banking trends in the United States, payment processors and financial institutions can offer more dynamic, flexible payment options, driving innovation and improving customer experience, while staying competitive in a rapidly evolving payments landscape. ACI is in a unique position to deliver service that takes advantage of our real-time payments software, our relationships with banks, merchants, and billers, and global connectivity.
Several other factors related to our business may have a significant impact on our operating results from year to year. For example, the accounting rules governing the timing of revenue recognition are complex, and it can be difficult to estimate when we will recognize revenue generated by a given transaction. Factors such as creditworthiness of the customer and timing of transfer of control or acceptance of our products may cause revenues related to sales generated in one period to be deferred and recognized in later periods. For arrangements in which services revenue is deferred, related direct and incremental costs may also be deferred. Additionally, while the majority of our contracts are denominated in the U.S. dollar, a substantial portion of our sales are made, and some of our expenses are incurred, in the local currency of countries other than the United States. Fluctuations in currency exchange rates in a given period may result in the recognition of gains or losses for that period.
We continue to seek ways to grow through organic sources, partnerships, alliances, and acquisitions. We continually look for potential acquisitions designed to improve our solutions’ breadth or provide access to new markets. As part of our acquisition strategy, we seek acquisition candidates that are strategic, capable of being integrated into our operating environment, and accretive to our financial performance.
Backlog
Backlog is comprised of:
•Committed Backlog, which includes (1) contracted revenue that will be recognized in future periods (contracted but not recognized) from software license fees, maintenance fees, service fees, and SaaS and PaaS fees specified in executed contracts (including estimates of variable consideration if required under ASC 606, Revenue From Contracts with Customers) and included in the transaction price for those contracts, which includes deferred revenue and amounts that will be invoiced and recognized as revenue in future periods and (2) estimated future revenues from software license fees, maintenance fees, services fees, and SaaS and PaaS fees specified in executed contracts.
•Renewal Backlog, which includes estimated future revenues from assumed contract renewals to the extent we believe recognition of the related revenue will occur within the corresponding backlog period.
We have historically included assumed renewals in backlog estimates based upon automatic renewal provisions in the executed contract and our historic experience with customer renewal rates.
Our 60-month backlog estimates are derived using the following key assumptions:
•License arrangements are assumed to renew at the end of their committed term or under the renewal option stated in the contract at a rate consistent with historical experience. If the license arrangement includes extended payment terms, the renewal estimate is adjusted for the effects of a significant financing component.
•Maintenance fees are assumed to exist for the duration of the license term for those contracts in which the committed maintenance term is less than the committed license term.
•SaaS and PaaS arrangements are assumed to renew at the end of their committed term at a rate consistent with our historical experiences.
•Foreign currency exchange rates are assumed to remain constant over the 60-month backlog period for those contracts stated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar.
•Our pricing policies and practices are assumed to remain constant over the 60-month backlog period.
In computing our 60-month backlog estimate, the following items are specifically not taken into account:
•Anticipated increases in transaction, account, or processing volumes by our customers.
•Optional annual uplifts or inflationary increases in recurring fees.
•Services engagements, other than SaaS and PaaS arrangements, are not assumed to renew over the 60-month backlog period.
•The potential impact of consolidation activity within our markets and/or customers.
We review our customer renewal experience on an annual basis. The impact of this review and subsequent updates may result in a revision to the renewal assumptions used in computing the 60-month backlog estimates. In the event a significant revision to renewal assumptions is determined to be necessary, prior periods will be adjusted for comparability purposes.
The following table sets forth our 60-month backlog estimate, by reportable segment, as of March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024 (in millions). Dollar amounts reflect foreign currency exchange rates as of each period end. This is a non-GAAP financial measure being presented to provide comparability across accounting periods. We believe this measure provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our financial performance.
March 31, 2025
December 31, 2024
Payment Software
$
3,142
$
3,102
Biller
3,597
3,604
Total
$
6,739
$
6,706
March 31, 2025
December 31, 2024
Committed
$
2,257
$
2,413
Renewal
4,482
4,293
Total
$
6,739
$
6,706
Estimates of future financial results require substantial judgment and are based on several assumptions, as described above. These assumptions may turn out to be inaccurate or wrong for reasons outside of management’s control. For example, our customers may attempt to renegotiate or terminate their contracts for many reasons, including mergers, changes in their financial condition, or general changes in economic conditions in the customer’s industry or geographic location. We may also experience delays in the development or delivery of products or services specified in customer contracts, which may cause the actual renewal rates and amounts to differ from historical experiences. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates may also impact the amount of revenue recognized in future periods. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that amounts included in backlog estimates will generate the specified revenues or that the actual revenues will be generated within the corresponding 60-month period. Additionally, because certain components of Committed Backlog and all of Renewal Backlog estimates are operating metrics, the estimates are not required to be subject to the same level of internal review or controls as contracted but not recognized Committed Backlog.
The following table presents the condensed consolidated statements of operations, as well as the percentage relationship to total revenues for items included in our condensed consolidated statements of operations (in thousands):
Three Month Period Ended March 31, 2025 Compared to the Three Month Period Ended March 31, 2024
Three Months Ended March 31,
2025
2024
Amount
% of Total Revenue
$ Change vs 2024
% Change vs 2024
Amount
% of Total Revenue
Revenues:
Software as a service and platform as a service
$
237,083
60
%
$
21,351
10
%
$
215,732
68
%
License
84,493
22
%
54,520
182
%
29,973
10
%
Maintenance
48,642
12
%
888
2
%
47,754
15
%
Services
24,347
6
%
1,787
8
%
22,560
7
%
Total revenues
394,565
100
%
78,546
25
%
316,019
100
%
Operating expenses:
Cost of revenue
213,378
54
%
22,271
12
%
191,107
60
%
Research and development
38,908
10
%
3,915
11
%
34,993
11
%
Selling and marketing
32,186
8
%
5,436
20
%
26,750
8
%
General and administrative
27,592
7
%
1,592
6
%
26,000
8
%
Depreciation and amortization
23,985
6
%
(3,624)
(13)
%
27,609
9
%
Total operating expenses
336,049
85
%
29,590
10
%
306,459
96
%
Operating income
58,516
15
%
48,956
512
%
9,560
4
%
Other income (expense):
Interest expense
(14,683)
(4)
%
4,327
(23)
%
(19,010)
(6)
%
Interest income
4,064
1
%
55
1
%
4,009
1
%
Other, net
23,740
6
%
25,765
1,272
%
(2,025)
(1)
%
Total other income (expense)
13,121
3
%
30,147
177
%
(17,026)
(6)
%
Income (loss) before income taxes
71,637
18
%
79,103
1,060
%
(7,466)
(2)
%
Income tax expense
12,767
3
%
12,482
4,380
%
285
—
%
Net income (loss)
$
58,870
15
%
$
66,621
860
%
$
(7,751)
(2)
%
Revenues
Total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $78.5 million, or 25%, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $1.4 million decrease in total revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for the impact of foreign currency, total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $79.9 million, or 25%, as compared to the same period in 2024.
Software as a Service (“SaaS”) and Platform as a Service (“PaaS”) Revenue
The Company’s SaaS arrangements allow customers to use certain software solutions (without taking possession of the software) in a single-tenant cloud environment on a subscription basis. The Company’s PaaS arrangements allow customers to use certain software solutions (without taking possession of the software) in a multi-tenant cloud environment on a subscription or consumption basis. Included in SaaS and PaaS revenue are fees paid by our customers for use of our Biller solutions. Biller-related fees may be paid by our clients or directly by their customers and may be a percentage of the underlying transaction amount, a fixed fee per executed transaction, or a monthly fee for each customer enrolled. SaaS and PaaS costs include payment card interchange fees, the amounts payable to banks and payment card processing fees, which are included in cost of revenue in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. All fees from SaaS and PaaS arrangements that do not qualify for treatment as a distinct performance obligation, which includes set-up fees, implementation or customization services, and product support services, are included in SaaS and PaaS revenue.
SaaS and PaaS revenue increased $21.4 million, or 10%, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $0.3 million decrease in SaaS and PaaS revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for the impact of foreign currency, SaaS and PaaS revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $21.7 million, or 10%, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The increase was primarily driven by new customer go-lives since March 31, 2024, and higher transaction volumes during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
License Revenue
Customers purchase the right to license ACI software under multi-year, time-based software license arrangements that vary in length but are generally five years. Under these arrangements the software is installed at the customer’s location (i.e. on-premise). Within these agreements are specified capacity limits typically based on customer transaction volume. ACI employs measurement tools that monitor the number of transactions processed by customers and if contractually specified limits are exceeded, additional fees are charged for the overage. Capacity overages may occur at varying times throughout the term of the agreement depending on the product, the size of the customer, and the significance of customer transaction volume growth. Depending on specific circumstances, multiple overages or no overages may occur during the term of the agreement.
Included in license revenue are license and capacity fees that are payable at the inception of the agreement. License revenue also includes license and capacity fees payable annually, quarterly, or monthly due to negotiated customer payment terms. The Company recognizes revenue in advance of billings for software license arrangements with extended payment terms and adjusts for the effects of the financing component, if significant.
License revenue increased $54.5 million, or 182%, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $0.2 million decrease in license revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for the impact of foreign currency, license revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $54.7 million, or 184%, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The increase was driven by the relative size of new license and capacity events during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
Maintenance Revenue
Maintenance revenue includes standard and premium customer support and any post contract support fees received from customers for the provision of product support services.
Maintenance revenue increased $0.9 million, or 2%, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $0.6 million decrease in maintenance revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for the impact of foreign currency, maintenance revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $1.5 million, or 3%, as compared to the same period in 2024.
Services revenue includes fees earned through implementation services and other professional services. Implementation services include product installations, product configurations, and custom software modifications (“CSMs”). Other professional services include business consultancy, technical consultancy, on-site support services, product education, and testing services. These services include new customer implementations as well as existing customer migrations to new products or new releases of existing products.
Services revenue increased $1.8 million, or 8%, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $0.2 million decrease in services revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for the impact of foreign currency, services revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $2.0 million, or 9%, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The increase was primarily driven by the timing and magnitude of project-related work during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
Operating Expenses
Total operating expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $29.6 million, or 10%, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•Total operating expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2024, included $2.6 million for cost reduction strategies and $0.3 million of other significant transaction-related expenses.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $2.0 million decrease in total operating expenses during the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for significant transaction-related expenses and foreign currency, total operating expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $34.5 million, or 11%, compared to the same period in 2024.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue includes costs to provide SaaS and PaaS, third-party royalties, amortization of purchased and developed software for resale, the costs of maintaining our software products, as well as the costs required to deliver, install, and support software at customer sites. SaaS and PaaS service costs include payment card interchange fees, amounts payable to banks, and payment card processing fees. Maintenance costs include the efforts associated with providing the customer with upgrades, 24-hour help desk, post go-live (remote) support, and production-type support for software that was previously installed at a customer location. Service costs include human resource costs and other incidental costs such as travel and training required for both pre go-live and post go-live support. Such efforts include project management, delivery, product customization and implementation, installation support, consulting, configuration, and on-site support.
Cost of revenue increased $22.3 million, or 12%, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $0.7 million decrease in cost of revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for the impact of foreign currency, cost of revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $23.0 million, or 12%, compared to the same period in 2024.
•The increase was primarily due to higher payment card interchange fees and personnel and related expenses of $18.4 million and $4.6 million, respectively.
Research and Development
Research and development (“R&D”) expenses are primarily human resource costs related to the creation of new products, improvements made to existing products as well as compatibility with new operating system releases and generations of hardware.
R&D expense increased $3.9 million, or 11%, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $0.3 million decrease in R&D expenses during the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for the impact of foreign currency, R&D expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $4.2 million, or 12%, compared to the same period in 2024.
•The increase was primarily due to higher personnel and related expenses.
Selling and Marketing
Selling and marketing includes both the costs related to selling our products to current and prospective customers as well as the costs related to promoting the Company, its products and the research efforts required to measure customers’ future needs and satisfaction levels. Selling costs are primarily the human resource and travel costs related to the effort expended to license our products and services to current and potential clients within defined territories and/or industries as well as the management of the overall relationship with customer accounts. Selling costs also include the costs associated with assisting distributors in their efforts to sell our products and services in their respective local markets. Marketing costs include costs incurred to promote the Company and its products, perform or acquire market research to help the Company better understand impending changes in customer demand for and of our products, and the costs associated with measuring customers’ opinions toward the Company, our products and personnel.
Selling and marketing expense increased $5.4 million, or 20%, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $0.5 million decrease in selling and marketing expense during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for the impact of foreign currency, selling and marketing expense increased $5.9 million, or 23%, for the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The increase was primarily due to higher personnel and related expenses of $6.6 million, partially offset by a decrease in advertising and professional fees of $0.7 million.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses are primarily human resource costs including executive salaries and benefits, personnel administration costs, and the costs of corporate support functions such as legal, administrative, human resources, and finance and accounting.
General and administrative expense increased $1.6 million, or 6%, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•General and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2024, included $2.6 million for cost reduction strategies and $0.3 million of other significant transaction-related expenses.
•The impact of foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar resulted in a $0.4 million decrease in general and administrative expense during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•Adjusted for the impact of cost reduction strategies, significant transaction-related expenses, and foreign currency, general and administrative expense increased $4.9 million, or 22%, for the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The increase was primarily due to higher personnel and related expenses, including a $2.9 million increase in stock-based compensation expense.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation and amortization decreased $3.6 million, or 13%, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024.
•The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in amortization for fully amortized intangibles acquired through acquisitions.
Interest expense for the three months ended March 31, 2025, decreased $4.3 million, or 23% compared to the same period in 2024, primarily due to lower comparative debt balances during 2025 as well as a decrease in interest rates.
Interest income includes the portion of software license fees paid by customers under extended payment terms that is attributed to the significant financing component. Interest income for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased $0.1 million, or 1%, as compared to the same period in 2024.
Other, net is primarily comprised of foreign currency transaction gains and losses. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, other, net also included the $25.9 million gain on the sale of the Company's equity method investment. Other, net was $23.7 million of income and $2.0 million of expense for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
Income Taxes
See Note 10, Income Taxes, to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in Part I of this Form 10-Q for additional information.
Segment Results
See Note 9, Segment Information, to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in Part I of this Form 10-Q for additional information regarding segments.
The following is selected financial data for our reportable segments for the periods indicated (in thousands):
Three Months Ended March 31,
2025
2024
Revenue
Payment Software
$
200,725
$
141,157
Biller
193,840
174,862
Total revenue
$
394,565
$
316,019
Segment Adjusted EBITDA
Payment Software
$
106,561
$
52,289
Biller
30,895
30,737
Depreciation and amortization
(23,985)
(27,609)
Stock-based compensation expense
(11,627)
(8,099)
Corporate and unallocated expenses
(43,328)
(37,758)
Interest, net
(10,619)
(15,001)
Other, net
23,740
(2,025)
Income (loss) before income taxes
$
71,637
$
(7,466)
Payment Software Segment Adjusted EBITDA increased $54.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, due to a $59.6 million increase in revenue primarily due to an increase in license and services revenues, partially offset by a $5.3 million increase in cash operating expense.
Biller Segment Adjusted EBITDA increased $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, due to a $19.0 million increase in revenue, partially offset by a $18.8 million increase in cash operating expense, primarily payment card interchange and processing fees.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
Our primary liquidity needs are: (i) to fund normal operating expenses; (ii) to meet the interest and principal requirements of our outstanding indebtedness; and (iii) to fund acquisitions, capital expenditures, and lease payments. We believe these needs will be satisfied using cash flow generated by our operations, our cash and cash equivalents, and available borrowings under our revolving credit facility over the next 12 months and beyond.
Cash and cash equivalents consist of highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less. As of March 31, 2025, we had $230.1 million of cash and cash equivalents, of which $117.3 million was held by our foreign subsidiaries. If these funds were needed for our operations in the United States, we may potentially be required to accrue and pay foreign and U.S. state income taxes to repatriate these funds. As of March 31, 2025, only the earnings from our Indian foreign subsidiaries are indefinitely reinvested. We are also permanently reinvested in the outside book/tax basis differences related to foreign subsidiaries. These outside basis differences could reverse through the sale of foreign subsidiaries, as well as various other events, none of which are considered probable as of March 31, 2025.
Available Liquidity
The following table sets forth our available liquidity for the dates indicated (in thousands):
March 31, 2025
December 31, 2024
Cash and cash equivalents
$
230,057
$
216,394
Availability under revolving credit facility
598,100
528,100
Total liquidity
$
828,157
$
744,494
The increase in total liquidity is primarily attributable to cash flows generated from operations.
The Company and ACI Payments, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, maintain a $75.0 million uncommitted overdraft facility with Bank of America, N.A. The overdraft facility acts as a secured loan under the terms of the Credit Agreement to provide an additional funding mechanism for timing differences that can occur in the bill payment settlement process. As of March 31, 2025, the full $75.0 million was available.
Stock Repurchase Program
The board approved a stock repurchase program authorizing the Company, as market and business conditions warrant, to acquire its common stock and periodically authorizes additional funds for the program. In June 2024, the board approved the repurchase of the Company's common stock of up to $400.0 million in place of the remaining purchase amounts previously authorized.
We repurchased 264,936 shares for $14.4 million under the program during the three months ended March 31, 2025. Under the program to date, we have repurchased 63,132,773 shares for approximately $1.1 billion. As of March 31, 2025, the maximum remaining amount authorized for purchase under the stock repurchase program was approximately $358.1 million. See Note 6, Common Stock and Treasury Stock, to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in Part I of this Form 10-Q for additional information.
Cash Flows
The following table sets forth summarized cash flow data for the periods indicated (in thousands):
The primary source of operating cash flows is cash collections from our customers for purchase and renewal of licensed software products and various services including software and platform as a service, maintenance, and other professional services. Our primary uses of operating cash flows include employee expenditures, taxes, interest payments, and leased facilities.
Cash flows provided by operating activities of $78.2 million were $45.0 million lower for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to $123.2 million for the same period in 2024. Operating cash flows for the current quarter decreased primarily due to lower customer receipt collections as a result of lower invoiced amounts at the prior year-end and higher income taxes paid, partially offset by improved profitability.
Our cash flow from operating activities can fluctuate from period to period due to several factors, including: the timing of billings, which are typically higher in the third and fourth quarters in conjunction with sales timing and are variable based upon license renewal timing; collections, which will lag the quarters with higher billings; the timing and amounts of interest due to interest rate fluctuations and semi-annual Senior Notes interest payments; income tax and other payments; and our operating results.
Cash Flows from Investing Activities
The changes in cash flows from investing activities primarily relate to the timing of our purchases and investments in capital and other assets, including strategic acquisitions, that support our growth.
During the first three months of 2025, we received net proceeds of $46.0 million from the sale of our equity method investment. In addition, we used cash of $8.9 million to purchase software, property, and equipment, as compared to $17.8 million during the same period in 2024.
Cash Flows from Financing Activities
The changes in cash flows from financing activities primarily relate to borrowings and repayments related to our debt instruments and other debt, stock repurchases, and net proceeds related to employee stock programs.
During the first three months of 2025, we repaid a net $9.4 million on the Term Loan under the Amendment, $70.0 million on the Revolving Credit Facility, and $4.2 million of other debt payments. In addition, we used $14.4 million to repurchase common stock and $7.1 million for the repurchase of stock-based compensation awards for tax withholdings. We received net proceeds of $1.4 million from the exercise of stock options and the issuance of common stock under our 2017 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, as amended, and $88.3 million for settlement assets and liabilities due to processing timing. During the first three months of 2024, we repaid a net $29.1 million on the Term Loan under the Amendment, $2.7 million of other debt payments, and $5.1 million of debt issuance costs. In addition, we used $62.5 million to repurchase common stock, $3.3 million for the repurchase of stock-based compensation awards for tax withholdings, and $18.9 million for settlement assets and liabilities due to processing timing. We received net proceeds of $12.0 million on the Revolving Credit Facility, and proceeds of $1.2 million from the exercise of stock options and the issuance of common stock under our 2017 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, as amended.
Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments
For the three months ended March 31, 2025, there have been no material changes to the contractual obligations and commercial commitments disclosed in Item 7 of our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.
Critical Accounting Estimates
The preparation of the condensed consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical experience and other assumptions we believe to be proper and reasonable under the circumstances. We continually evaluate the appropriateness of estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of our condensed consolidated financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
The accounting policies that reflect our more significant estimates, judgments, and assumptions, and that we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our reported financial results, include the following:
•Revenue Recognition
•Intangible Assets and Goodwill
•Stock-Based Compensation
•Accounting for Income Taxes
During the three months ended March 31, 2025, there were no significant changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates. Please refer to Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contained in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, for a more complete discussion of our critical accounting policies and estimates.
ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Excluding the impact of changes in interest rates, inflationary pressures, and the uncertainty in the global financial markets, there have been no material changes to our market risk for the three months ended March 31, 2025. We conduct business in all parts of the world and are thereby exposed to market risks related to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. The U.S. dollar is the single largest currency in which our revenue contracts are denominated. Any decline in the value of local foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar results in our products and services being more expensive to a potential foreign customer. In those instances where our goods and services have already been sold, receivables may be more difficult to collect. Additionally, in jurisdictions where the revenue contracts are denominated in U.S. dollars and operating expenses are incurred in the local currency, any decline in the value of the U.S. dollar will have an unfavorable impact to operating margins. At times, we enter into revenue contracts that are denominated in the country’s local currency, primarily in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, other European countries, Brazil, India, and Singapore. This practice serves as a natural hedge to finance the local currency expenses incurred in those locations. We have not entered into any foreign currency hedging transactions. We do not purchase or hold any derivative financial instruments for speculation or arbitrage.
The primary objective of our cash investment policy is to preserve principal without significantly increasing risk. If we maintained similar cash investments for a period of one year based on our cash investments and interest rates at March 31, 2025, a hypothetical ten percent increase or decrease in effective interest rates would increase or decrease interest income by $0.1 million annually.
We had approximately $0.9 billion of debt outstanding as of March 31, 2025, with $453.1 million outstanding under our Credit Facility and $400.0 million in 2026 Notes. Our Credit Facility has a floating rate, which was 6.17% as of March 31, 2025. Our 2026 Notes are fixed-rate long-term debt obligations with a 5.750% interest rate. A hypothetical ten percent increase or decrease in effective interest rates would increase or decrease interest expense related to the Credit Facility by approximately $2.8 million.
ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Management, under the supervision and with the participation of the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, performed an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on that evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded our disclosure controls and procedures are effective as of March 31, 2025.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended March 31, 2025, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
From time to time, we are involved in various litigation matters arising in the ordinary course of our business. We are not currently a party to any legal proceedings the adverse outcome of which, individually or in the aggregate, we believe would be likely to have a material effect on our financial condition or results of operations.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
There have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in Item 1A of our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. Additional risks and uncertainties, including risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently deem immaterial, could also have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and/or results of operations.
ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The following table provides information regarding our repurchases of common stock during the three months ended March 31, 2025:
Period
Total Number of Shares Purchased
Average Price Paid per Share
Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Program
Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Program
January 1, 2025 through January 31, 2025
—
$
—
—
February 1, 2025 through February 28, 2025
31,143
(1)
52.36
—
March 1, 2025 through March 31, 2025
362,565
(1)
54.74
264,936
Total
393,708
$
358,120,000
(1)Pursuant to our 2020 Equity and Performance Incentive Plan, we granted RSUs. Under each arrangement, shares are issued without direct cost to the employee. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, 362,138 shares of RSUs vested. We withheld 128,772 of these RSUs to pay the employees’ portion of the applicable minimum payroll withholding taxes.
In 2005, the board approved a stock repurchase program authorizing us, as market and business conditions warrant, to acquire our common stock and periodically authorizes additional funds for the program, with the intention of using existing cash and cash equivalents to fund these repurchases. In June 2024, the board approved the repurchase of the Company's common stock of up to $400.0 million, in place of the remaining purchase amounts previously authorized. As of March 31, 2025, the maximum remaining amount authorized for purchase under the stock repurchase program was approximately $358.1 million.
There is no guarantee as to the exact number of shares we will repurchase. Repurchased shares are returned to the status of authorized but unissued shares of common stock. In March 2005, the board approved a plan under Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to facilitate the repurchase of shares of common stock under the existing stock repurchase program. Under our Rule 10b5-1 plan, we have delegated authority over the timing and amount of repurchases to an independent broker who does not have access to inside information about the Company. Rule 10b5-1 allows us, through the independent broker, to purchase shares at times when we ordinarily would not be in the market because of self-imposed trading blackout periods, such as the time immediately preceding the end of the fiscal quarter through a period of three business days following our quarterly earnings release.
None of the Company’s directors or officers adopted, modified, or terminated a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement or a non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement during the three months ended March 31, 2025.
ITEM 6. EXHIBITS
The following lists exhibits filed as part of this quarterly report on Form 10-Q:
XBRL Instance Document - the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.
101.SCH
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema
101.CAL
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase
101.LAB
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase
101.PRE
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase
101.DEF
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase
104
Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101)
____________
** This certification is not deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or otherwise subject to the liability of that section. Such certification will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent that the Company specifically incorporates it by reference.
(P)Paper Exhibit
(1)Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the registrant’s current report on Form 8-K filed August 17, 2017.
(2)Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the registrant’s current report on Form 8-K filed April 1, 2022.
(3)Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.01 to the registrant’s Registration Statement No. 33-88292 on Form S-1.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
