CAB Payments Holdings PLC (LSE:CABP) posted a barebones pre-close trading update on Tuesday which outlined a 25% year-on-year increase in total income for the year ending 31 December 2023.
This represents a moderate rebound for the beleaguered foreign exchange company.
CAB Payments was the largest among the very few companies to debut on the London Stock Exchange in 2023 when it raised £291.5 million in a July flotation.
The following six months have not been kind to the stock, having lost 70% of its market value since the IPO.
Chief among CAB’s ills was a shock profit warning in October, merely three months after going public.
Management cited CAB’s exposure to the flailing Nigerian naira, the West African CFA franc and the Central African CFA franc as headwinds.
CFA currencies, which are used in 14 African nations, have a controversial history intertwined with French colonialism.
It is issued by the Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO) in Dakar, Senegal and is pegged to the value of the euro.
Proponents of the CFA currencies say they promote stability, but there have also been protests over its neocolonial associations.
CAB has yet to disclose its precise exposure to these currencies, and what implications this exposure has on the group.
A CAB representative advised looking out for the preliminary results scheduled for release on 26 March.
In the meantime, analysts were quite upbeat on today’s trading update.
Liberum said: “While the trading update is brief, beating consensus by 4% is the start of CAB rebuilding trust with the market… We continue to believe that CAB is a good business, with a clear proposition addressing customer pain points in a large addressable market, with customer traction remaining a noticeable and positive feature.”
The market's response, however, was middling, with shares falling 3.1% by the end of Tuesday's close.