Trainline produces promising financial results

The latest six-month figures from Trainline show the scale of its post-lockdown recovery and return to growth.

Reporting on its half-year results to 31 August, the rail and coach ticket-selling platform said group net ticket sales had reached £1billion, an increase year-on-year of 179 per cent. Revenues reached £78million – an increase of 151 per cent.

Here are some of the other highlights:

• The report drew attention to its previously-revealed strong recovery in Q2, where net ticket sales recovered to 71 per cent of the same period in FY2020, the highest level since the COVID pandemic started. In August, the business saw a return to growth in the UK; France, Italy, Germany and Spain returned to growth in Q2, up 5% overall versus the same period 2 years ago.
• Trainline also reported what it describes as an “accelerated shift” to online and digital tickets.
• It said its two-click rebooking and flexi-tickets have converted 26 per cent more ‘time-checkers’, people who use the mobile app to check their main journey at least once a week, into customers.
• Meanwhile transactions are more frequent – Trainline seeing a 29 per cent increase on people transacting two or more times a month in the UK.
• In mainland Europe, Italy saw a 95 per cent growth in net ticket sales in Q2 compared with the same period two years ago, and in Spain transactions on the Madrid-Barcelona route tripled for the same period.

The business forecasts net ticket sales in range of £2.4-£2.8 billion for the full year.

Jody Ford, CEO of Trainline, said: “Our consumer business returned to growth in August versus pre-COVID levels, with train travellers increasingly opting for digital tickets.  Encouragingly our customers are now using Trainline even more frequently, drawn to new features such as our new 2-click commuter experience and digital railcards.

“Beyond the UK, we see significant growth opportunity in Europe.  With new entrant train companies driving more journey options and lower prices in our key markets, customers are increasingly turning to Trainline to help them easily find the best fares and support them as they travel.  This was particularly evident in Italy in H1, where our Q2 net ticket sales doubled compared to pre-COVID times.”

Image credit: Trainline

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