Global payments platform Finablr (FIN:AIM) saw its shares plunge 60% to 9.13p record low after admitting that it is facing a cash flow and liquidity crisis. The company, which owns the Travelex money change and transfers business, joined the stock market in May 2019 at 175p.
The company said it was currently taking ‘urgent’ steps to assess accurately its current liquidity and cash flow position. But the market’s extreme reaction today suggests that there is a very real threat to the firm’s survival now hanging over its head.
LITANY OF ADVERSE IMPACTS
The firm has seen a number of factors impact its operations in the last few months. These have included a well-publicised cyber-attack to its Travelex foreign exchange business in January, and mounting travel restrictions being imposed globally by the widening spread of coronavirus.
Finablr has also the credit rating of its Travelex arm's bonds de-rated, putting a significant pinch on liquidity, which has seriously ‘restricted the movement of physical currencies that the company needs to operate its businesses.’
Finablr also believes that it has suffered from ‘adverse perceptions’ following the ongoing investigations at NMC Health (NMC), the Middle East-based private hospitals operator. It is subject to a fraud investigation, and BR Shetty is the founder and key shareholder in both companies.
