The boss of CAB Payments is to quit, the firm announced today, less than a year after the Sutton-based fintech's disastrous London float.
Bhairav Trivedi will step down as CEO on 26 March and become a senior adviser to its board, where he will “build increasingly strong relationships with central banks, regulators, current and prospective strategic customers, and other senior industry participants”.
Replacing Trivedi will be Neeraj Kapur, a former RAF fighter pilot who was most recently chief finance officer of Vanquis Bank from 2020 until 2023. At Vanquis, formerly known as Provident Financial, he initially oversaw a recovery in the bank’s share price after it crashed in the early stages of the pandemic. But in his last 18 months in the role, the shares tumbled by 70%.
CAB chair Ann Cairns said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Bhairav for his commitment and contribution, which has positioned the company as a leader in its field.“Under his leadership the Company more than doubled its revenue. I am delighted Bhairav has agreed to continue to represent, advise and support CAB Payments going forward.”
Kapur said: “I am extremely excited by the opportunity to lead the highly skilled and talented CAB Payments team, as the group enters the next phase of its development. CAB Payments has both a very proud history and exciting future growth plans.”
CAB was one of the few companies to float on the London Stock Exchange in 2023, with a July IPO that valued the business at more than £850 million. However its share price quickly slid before a dramatic plunge on the back of an October profit warning. At their lowest, the shares were down 85% from the IPO price.
Since bottoming out, they have more than doubled in value, but are still down by about two thirds.
Today, CAB shares are slightly lower at 100.7p.
Peel Hunt analysts said: “In our view, CABP’s board is attempting to refresh its equity story with this management change after the significant profit warning and subsequent share price underperformance following IPO in July 2023.”
