CAB Payments posts slump in profit as currency shifts drag down earnings

Fintech CAB Payments has reported a slump in profit for the first half of 2024 as currency movements continued to weigh on its earnings.

The London-listed firm said on Wednesday that its pretax profit came in at £13.7m for the six months to 30 June, a 43 per cent drop on the same period last year. Its earnings per share fell to 4p from 6.1p.

The firm’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA) also fell sharply to £18.7m, compared to £40m a year before. CAB’s adjusted EBITDA margin narrowed to 33.5 per cent from 55.7 per cent.

CAB specialises in FX and cross-border payments for “hard-to-reach markets”. It floated on the London Stock Exchange last summer at a valuation of £800m, making it the capital’s biggest IPO of 2023.

However, the firm soon issued a profit warning after it was affected by a major foreign currency policy shift from the Nigerian central bank. The change hammered its revenues and sent shares plummeting.

CAB’s stock price remains down 64 per cent from its IPO.

On Wednesday, the firm reported a 22 per cent drop in gross income to £55.7m.

CAB said income rose 11 per cent when excluding “previously identified dislocations” in the Nigerian Naira, as well as central bank interventions on the Central African Franc and the West African Franc.

Its total volumes rose four per cent to £17.6bn, which CAB said contrasted to a roughly five per cent drop in market-wide payment flows in its core Sub-Saharan Africa geography.

“Our H1 results were resilient despite the exceptional prior year,” said Neeraj Kapur, CAB’s chief executive.

“Our outlook remains unchanged from our previous update and there was encouraging trading at the beginning of H2. We expect our gross income to be marginally below last year whilst we exhibit good growth across a broader range of currency corridors.”

Kapur took over as CEO in June, succeeding Bhairav Trivedi, who announced he would step down just seven months after floating CAB.

On Wednesday, CAB also unveiled “an updated, more execution focused strategy”, driven by new senior hires including a global head of sales, head of network, head of payments, head of European business development and chief operating officer.

The firm said its new strategy would focus on four areas – network, clients, platform, and investment and innovation – to deliver “a diversified business with sustainable growth”.