ACCESS Newswire (NYSEAMERICAN:ACCS) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $5.6 million, up 5% sequentially from $5.3 million in the first quarter and essentially unchanged from the prior-year quarter, as growth in its core press release business was offset by lower webcasting and ProPlan revenue.
Founder, President and CEO Brian Balbirnie said core press release revenue rose 2% year over year, while the company continued to increase the value of its subscription customer base. Average annual recurring revenue, or ARR, per subscription customer reached $12,718 at quarter-end, up 15% from $11,039 a year earlier.
Revenue and profitability
CFO Steve Knerr said the sequential revenue increase was primarily driven by a 10% increase in core press release volume, reflecting the seasonal pattern the company typically experiences after the first quarter. For the first six months of 2026, total revenue was $10.9 million, down 1% from $11.1 million in the comparable 2025 period. Core press release revenue increased 1% for the first half.
Webcasting revenue declined from the prior-year quarter because of fewer virtual annual meetings and lower reseller activity, while lower ProPlan customer revenue also weighed on results.
- Second-quarter gross margin was $4.1 million, or 73% of revenue, compared with $4.3 million, or 76% of revenue, a year earlier.
- Operating loss was $307,000, compared with an operating loss of $249,000 in the second quarter of 2025.
- GAAP net loss from continuing operations was $354,000, or $0.09 per diluted share, versus $239,000, or $0.06 per diluted share, a year earlier.
- Adjusted EBITDA was $600,000, or 11% of revenue, compared with $800,000, or 15% of revenue, in the prior-year quarter.
- Adjusted free cash flow was $50,000, compared with $250,000 in the second quarter of 2025.
The gross-margin decline reflected higher press release distribution costs from new partners, price increases from existing partners and additional usage under variable contracts, Knerr said. The company said it has implemented initiatives expected to reduce cost of revenue by about $150,000 in the second half of 2026.
Operating expenses totaled $4.4 million, slightly below $4.5 million a year earlier. General and administrative expense fell 23% year over year to $1.35 million, which Knerr attributed to lower non-recurring expenses, stock-based compensation, bad debt expense, insurance costs and office costs after the sale of the compliance business and the company’s shift to remote work.
Sales and marketing expense increased 29% to $1.9 million as ACCESS invested in advertising and trade shows. Product development expense fell 19% to $533,000, partly because the company capitalized $110,000 of software development costs during the quarter tied mainly to its Social Monitoring and Insight & Analytics enhancements.
Subscription metrics and product plans
Balbirnie said total customer numbers rose 24% year over year and 6% sequentially. ACCESS ended the quarter with 1,162 subscriptions, up 4% from 1,119. Quarterly retention was 94%, up 2 percentage points from the first quarter and 3 points from the prior-year quarter, while net revenue retention reached 124%.
He said the company is increasingly targeting private businesses through e-commerce and brand-platform initiatives, with an aim of converting a portion of those customers into subscribers over the next 12 months. During the question-and-answer session, Balbirnie said lower-priced offerings for private-company markets contributed to a modest sequential decrease in ARR per subscriber, while public-company customers that renewed and added products continued to produce higher values.
ACCESS plans to introduce additional products in the second half. The company said it expects to launch an ACCESS Verified for Financials feature designed to review financial releases for consistency between financial tables and narrative disclosures. It also plans to upgrade its ACCESS Events platform to allow customers to schedule annual earnings calls and related releases through an integrated PR and investor-relations workflow.
On the public-relations side, ACCESS intends to introduce tools that enable customers to tailor and distribute messages to social platforms and journalist groups from its platform. In early fourth quarter, the company expects to offer an initial version of ACCESS Content Studio, which Balbirnie said would connect with social accounts and help create and format content such as FAQs, white papers, newsletters and blogs.
Balbirnie said the company expects Content Studio to be priced as a 10% to 15% increase to a customer’s current subscription. Social Monitoring was initially offered as a $200-per-month upgrade for subscribers, while Content Studio is expected to represent an additional $200 to $300 per month, he said in response to an analyst question.
Capital allocation and outlook priorities
ACCESS ended the quarter with just under $3 million in cash. The company repurchased 40,000 shares for slightly more than $300,000 during the quarter, bringing total repurchases since December 2025 to 90,000 shares, or $700,000. Balbirnie said the buyback has retired more than 2% of common shares outstanding and left roughly $300,000 available under the current authorization.
The board will review company performance, share price and liquidity after the existing program is completed before determining whether to authorize another plan, he said.
Management said its second-half priorities are maintaining operating discipline, reducing cost of revenue, investing in sales and marketing for customer acquisition, and converting product development into subscription and revenue growth. Balbirnie said the company expects cost savings, new product releases and higher initial purchases to help move gross margins back into the higher 70% range in the second half.
He also said ACCESS is aiming to increase the share of revenue from recurring ARR-based business toward 80% by this time next year, compared with approximately 40% of revenue currently generated from non-subscription, recurring-at-delivery customers.
About ACCESS Newswire (NYSEAMERICAN:ACCS)
Issuer Direct Corporation operates as a communications and compliance company, provides solutions for both public relations and investor relations professionals in the United States and internationally. The company provides press release distribution, media databases, media monitoring, and newsrooms through media advantage platform; ACCESSWIRE, a news dissemination and media outreach service; and Webcaster Platform, a cloud-based webcast, webinar, and virtual meeting platform that delivers live and on-demand streaming of events to audiences of various sizes, as well as allows customers to create, produce, and deliver events.
