CAB Payments disappoints with maiden annual results

CAB Payments' stock dropped sharply on Tuesday after the cross-border payments and FX services provider underwhelmed with its 2023 results, with profits weighed down by IPO-related costs after its stock-market debut last year.

In its first annual results as a listed business, CAB Payments reported a pre-tax profit of £37.6m for last year, down 14% on the year before, with one-off costs of £21.1m, mainly relating to its IPO, compared with one-off costs of £5.3m previously. However, adjusted EBITDA came in 17% higher at £64.6m.

The company went public in July 2023, but was forced to issue a profit warning just months later after being sideswiped by a major policy shift in Nigeria, which held back trading volumes in two of its key currency corridors. The guidance caused shares to halve in value.

Group gross income increased by 25% to £137.1m in 2023, but income from Nigerian naira totalled just £18m last year, compared with £27.5m in 2022, £15.2m of which was registered in the first half.

"The tremendous effort that went into generating the strong growth this year was somewhat overshadowed by events late in the year in two of our larger markets. These events caused us to downgrade our short-term guidance on Group financial performance. This was personally extremely disappointing," said chair Ann Cairns.

The stock was down 10% by the close of play on Tuesday at 95.2p.