Shares of Chester-based GB Group (GBG) — a global identity verification, location intelligence and fraud prevention company — fell as much as 13% on Tuesday after it published results for the year ended March 31, 2026.
GB Group’s share price has fallen about 77% over the past five years to around £2.13 — slashing its stock market value to roughly £500 million.
The firm reported a statutory loss before tax of £74.5 million “due primarily to a non-cash impairment charge of £73.1 million” with revenue increasing on a reported basis by 0.8% to £285 million.
Explaining the impairment charge, GB Group said: “During the year the decision was made to retire our legacy Compliance platform solution, which primarily operated in Americas, as part of our actions to drive ongoing simplification and focus investment on products with the highest future growth potential.
“As a result of this decision, we have written down the value of assets associated with Compliance platform to £nil resulting in a non-cash exceptional charge of £16.5 million. In addition, following our annual impairment review, we have recorded an impairment charge of £73.1 million against goodwill.
“This is a non-cash item reflecting accounting assumptions following the last few years of underperformance, but the board are still confident about the future trading prospects of the group, following the growth in Q4 of FY26.”
GB Group will propose a final ordinary dividend of 4.40 pence per share for FY26 (FY25: 4.40 pence per share), amounting to £10.2 million (FY25: £10.9 million).
“During FY26 GBG returned approximately £56 million to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share buybacks, repurchasing approximately 8% of our equity at a cost of £45 million, reflecting disciplined capital allocation alongside continued investment in growth,” said the firm.
“In March 2026, we successfully completed the refinancing of our revolving credit facility, securing our capital structure until at least September 2030. Net debt at year-end was £80.1 million, with a leverage ratio of 1.15 times adjusted EBITDA.”
GB Group CEO Dev Dhiman said: “FY26 has been a year of considerable progress. We have delivered on the strategic initiatives that have the largest impact on our topline momentum, including returning Americas Identity to growth and generating strong demand for GBG Go – our global identity platform.
“Our simplified operating model is driving efficiency and platform scalability. The foundations we have built, a scalable, global platform, and a high-performance culture, are now translating into tangible results with growth accelerating.
“GBG Go has been extremely well received by customers, and now is the time for us to be bolder in capitalising on the significant market opportunity. Given strong demand, we will accelerate Go’s roadmap to release enhanced capabilities sooner, investing to drive incremental growth and expedite efficiency gains from retiring legacy technology, enhancing our competitiveness.
“We enter FY27 from a position of strength, APAC and EMEA Identity and Location performed well as Americas Identity generated Q4 growth. Combined with the structural tailwinds expanding our markets, such as the acceleration of AI-driven fraud, we have a compelling opportunity ahead. We are confident we will accelerate growth and deliver sustained long-term shareholder value.”