- Full-year revenue up 12% to £442 million
- £75 million buyback in progress
- Shares down 37% year-to-date
Shares in Trainline (TRN) were down over 9% to 253p in morning trading despite record results for the year ended 28 February 2025 from the rail ticketing app.
Trainline said revenue for the year rose 12% to £442 million and that it was Europe’s most downloaded rail app with a total active customer base of 27 million.
The company sees Europe as a growing market with liberalised high-speed routes across France, Italy and Spain expected to be worth €12 billion by 2030.
In the UK, net ticket sales grew 13% to £3.9 billion and the company has launched a personalised AI (artificial intelligence) travel assistant which gives travel advice and process refunds without human intervention.
However, investors were not impressed by these numbers, being pre-occupied by the government’s plans to nationalise the rail operators over the next few years.
In February, the government launched an industry consultation on the Railways Bill as part of its next step to establish GBR (Great British Railways) – the government’s own online retail site for rail tickets which plans to bring together all the individual train operators.
GBR will have the power to reform fares and the ticketing system without an operators’ agreement, as well as ‘simplifying fares and modernising ticketing’ including the rollout of Pay As You Go allowing passengers to travel more flexibly.
If it goes ahead, it will be a direct competitor to Trainline. Both parties have said they will work together on an amicable solution.
‘Alongside other independent retailers, Trainline is taking an increasingly assertive stance with the government to deliver on its commitment to deliver a fair, open and competitive future retail market,’ said the company.
‘It is a case made strongly in our response submitted to the consultation on the future market and in parallel we are actively challenging where operators’ self-preference their own channels today.
‘We expect the outcome of the public consultation to be published in late summer/ early autumn, followed shortly thereafter by the beginning of the legislative process,’ added Trainline.
FEARS OF STATE-BACK ALTERNATIVE
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell said: ‘The Trainline growth story was chugging along nicely until it was derailed by the announcement of a long-feared state-backed alternative ticketing platform.
‘The numbers themselves are reassuring in part – the UK enjoying a strong showing and Spain delivering. However, other areas of the international business have struggled, and the company also faces headwinds linked to Google changes to its search engine results page, an expansion of Transport for London’s contactless travel zone and the impact of macroeconomic uncertainty on foreign travel.
‘Given the strength of Trainline’s brand, it may be able to stave off some of the impacts from a commission-free, state-backed rival, but what may really hurt is the reduction in complexity of the whole ticketing system in UK rail. If delivered, this would reduce one of Trainline’s key appeals to travellers – which is helping them navigate complexity and get the best ticket prices available.’
DISCLAIMER: Financial services company AJ Bell referenced in this article owns Shares magazine. The author of this article (Sabuhi Gard) and the editor (James Crux) own shares in AJ Bell.
