He said the omicron variant had caused extra headaches. “Early in the fourth quarter last year, we had hoped that the impact of COVID was waning,” Mr Grant said.

“The omicron variant that emerged late in calendar 2021, has significantly extended the period of limitations on mobility,” he said.

Given the large number of challenges to the core business, changing consumer behaviour and the board’s focus on the “timeline to enhanced returns” it had been decided to undertake a broad-based review, Mr Grant said.

Mr Skelton, who stepped up from being corporate counsel and company secretary to take over as CEO in 2014, said A2B had competed head-to-head with well-capitalised global competitors at a time of big technological change. It has been battling against ride-share companies such as Uber.

He said he felt “confident about A2B’s future”.

A2B earlier said Paul Oneile was stepping down as chairman after holding that role since early 2017.

Mr Skelton had been pushing hard in the payments-technology segment and driving a strategy built that included boosting the FlamingoPay payments processing terminals for small businesses.

It has been targeting small-to-medium business operators with an annual turnover between $50,000 – $5 million. The all-in-one payments, loyalty program and marketing system under the FlamingoPay banner linked seamlessly into platforms such as Google, Facebook and Instagram.

In October, he outlined that A2B was positioning itself to generate more revenue from its technology and payments-processing businesses than traditional taxi operations in a few years, with vast upside in technology and payments.

Mr Skelton also said at the time the 13cabs network had the jump on rivals in the personal transport market such as Uber regarding the environmental credentials of its vehicle fleet.

Mr Skelton said about 25 per cent of the 13cabs fleet consisted of traditional combustion engine vehicles but 75 per cent was either hybrids, electric or a combination of alternative fuels.