Criteo SA (CRTON) Q2 2026 Earnings Report

The call presented a mix of significant strategic progress (OpenAI partnership scaling, Criteo GO adoption, strong underlying Retail Media growth, improved pipeline and disciplined cost management) alongside meaningful near‑term revenue headwinds driven by spending reductions from several large enterprise clients, downward revisions to contribution guidance, regional softness, and elevated near‑term CapEx and FX volatility. Management emphasized profitability, cash generation and long‑term opportunity from AI and retail media while maintaining a conservative outlook for the remainder of 2026.

Criteo’s updated 2026 guidance assumes no recovery from several large enterprise performance‑media clients and calls for full‑year contribution ex‑TAC to decline roughly 10–12% at constant currency; Retail Media guidance is unchanged with contribution ex‑TAC expected to decline mid‑ to high‑teens y/y at constant currency due to a ~$75M client scope reduction (excluding those two clients underlying Retail Media contribution ex‑TAC is expected to grow in the high‑teens to ~20%), while Performance Media contribution ex‑TAC is now expected to decline in the high single digits cc. For Q3 the company expects contribution ex‑TAC of $237–241M (down ~14–15% cc) with a $6–8M Q3 FX headwind (FX is expected to be a modest benefit for the full year); Q3 adjusted EBITDA is guided to $54–58M and full‑year adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be ~30%. Management also guided CapEx of about $190M in 2026, operating‑cash‑flow conversion to improve to ~85% of adjusted EBITDA (vs. 76% in 2025), free‑cash‑flow conversion of ~35% of adjusted EBITDA, a normalized tax rate of 27–32%, positive free cash flow in H2, and noted that no meaningful contribution from OpenAI/agentic AI is assumed in 2026 (with material benefit anticipated beginning in 2027).