Alpha Group International PLC on Wednesday said Virgin Money UK PLC’s former chief executive officer, Jayne-Anne Gadhia, will join Alpha as chair, as it reported a jump in annual profit.

Shares were up 7.9% to 1,770.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

London-based Alpha provides financial services including, currency risk management, mass payments and cash management for corporates and institutions.

Pretax profit more than doubled in 2023 to £115.9 million from £46.8 million in 2022. This was driven by 12% rise in revenue to £110.4 million from £98.3 million.

Alpha declared a final dividend of 12.3 pence per share, up 12% from 11.0p a year before. This brought its total 2023 dividend to 16.0p, up 11% from 14.4p.

Looking ahead, Alpha said trading in 2024 to date has been ‘encouraging’ and is confident in the ‘strength and scalability’ of its business model.

Alpha also Wednesday announced that Chair Clive Kahn will step down at the company’s annual general meeting in 2025. Gadhia will be chair designate, starting from this year’s AGM on May 1.

Gadhia was CEO of Virgin Money from 2008 to 2018, having been one of the founders of Virgin Direct in 1995. She then worked for US software-as a-service provider Salesforce.com Inc until 2021.

Gadhia is currently lead non-executive director at HM Revenue & Customs and a senior advisor at Vanquis Bank, part of Vanquis Banking Group PLC, to which she had sold her fintech start-up Snoop last July.

‘I am delighted to be joining Alpha as it embarks on this exciting next chapter in its growth story. Alpha is a fantastic company with an exciting vision, and I am looking forward to being able to contribute to its success,’ she said about her appointment.

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