CAB Payments pledges to hit revised target after stock plunge-investor

LONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - CAB Payments (CABP.L), whose stock plunged more than 70% last month after a profit warning, has pledged to some investors it will hit a revised 2023 revenue target and publish a trading update in January, as the cross-border payments processor fights to win back market trust.

Oliver Brown, a fund manager at R.C. Brown and a former top-20 investor in the newly-listed company, said he was called by a senior CAB executive on Friday, who was "very contrite" in the wake of last month's profit warning.

"CAB are absolutely adamant that they are not going to have another profit warning (in 2023)," Brown said, but added it could take years to rebuild market trust and the company was planning a market update in January.

"We feel we have been over-promised. It was a company growing incredibly quickly - and is still growing at a reasonable pace," he said. "If they don't hit these revised numbers, there will be even bigger questions."

In an emailed statement, CAB said it was focused on listening to shareholders and delivering on forecasts of strong growth to build back trust in its investment case.

"We recognise that this is going to take time and thank our current and new shareholders for their continued support," the company told Reuters.

CAB markets itself as a fast-growing fintech with a global network to help governments, institutions and organisations such as NGOs make payments in countries such as Nigeria and Cameroon.

But its shares plunged last month after it slashed its revenue forecasts by 17%, setting a new 2023 revenue growth target of at least 20%, blaming "recent challenges" in some of its key currency markets such as the Central and West African franc, as well as uncertainties surrounding the Nigerian naira.

CAB's management team has since been "reaching out to a lot of investors", one source familiar with the situation said.

CAB's stock, which listed at 335 pence in July in an IPO that raised around 300 million pounds ($374 million) for insiders such as Africa-focused private equity firm Helios Investment Partners, ended the day at 62.8p on Thursday.

MORIBUND MARKETS

CAB's stock rout comes as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) attempts to help reinvigorate a moribund IPO market and compete with rivals such as New York by simplifying listing rules and easing burdens on new entrants - while trying to maintain market confidence.

The fallout from the CAB listing has triggered a debate about whether the risk factors detailed in IPO documents fail to offer investors proper insight and should be better policed.

An FCA spokesperson declined to comment when asked whether the regulator would investigate CAB or its top-flight financial and legal advisers, including JP Morgan, Barclays and Allen & Overy.

Barclays, JP Morgan and Allen & Overy declined to comment.

Tom Bacon, an M&A and corporate finance partner at law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, said the ultimate responsibility for the prospectus lay with company directors.

But the FCA also has a remit to ensure IPO sponsors carry out due diligence and advise clients and the regulator on their abilities to comply with obligations.

"This whole debacle is likely to be detrimental to London's IPO ambitions for some time," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

($1 = 0.8024 pounds)

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