When retirement knocks on the door, most bosses prefer not to have all their nest eggs in one basket. GB (GBG) boss Richard Law recently sold about 11 per cent of his shares in the identity data specialist for close to £688,000, reducing his stake to around 1.6 per cent, in order to "diversify his investments" ahead of his looming departure.
He won't mind the handsome return: GB's shares have soared fivefold over the past five years. These gains reflect strong demand from customers such as Nike and Harrods for software tools that allow them to verify the identities of more than 4bn people in 40 countries, run background checks on employees, root out fraud and engage with customers. The group has also augmented organic growth with acquisitions such as IDscan Biometrics, which provides facial-scanning software that can verify documents such as passports and work permits.