REG - Trainline PLC - TRADING STATEMENT AND NOTICE OF FULL YEAR RESULTS

TrainlineAnnouncement

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RNS Number : 3083W  Trainline PLC  12 March 2026

 

TRAINLINE PLC TRADING STATEMENT

12(th) March 2026

Trainline delivers solid FY2026 performance in line with enhanced expectations

Trainline plc ("Trainline", the "Company" or the "Group"), the leading
independent rail and coach travel platform selling tickets to millions of
customers worldwide, today provides an update on its trading performance for
the financial year ended 2026 (1(st) March 2025 to 28(th) February 2026).

FY2026 trading performance:

                         Twelve months to end of February 2026

                         FY2026      FY2025      % YoY       % YoY CCY(1)
 Net ticket sales (£m)
 UK Consumer             4,135       3,912       +6%         +6%
 International Consumer  1,104       1,055       +5%         +3%
 Trainline Solutions     1,081       941         +15%        +14%
 Total Group             6,319       5,907       +7%         +7%

 Revenue (£m)
 UK Consumer             204         208         -2%         -2%
 International Consumer  60          53          +12%        +10%
 Trainline Solutions     189         181         +4%         +4%
 Total Group             453         442         +2%         +2%

 

1.        Constant Currency ("CCY") YoY growth calculated for
International Consumer and Trainline Solutions using the prior period average
€/£ exchange rate applied to current year reported numbers.

Jody Ford, CEO of Trainline said:

"The Group delivered a robust trading performance, in line with previously
raised expectations. Revenue growth was at the upper end of guidance and we
expect a double-digit percentage increase in adjusted EBITDA with strong cash
generation, underpinned by cost discipline and operating leverage.

"In the UK, we focused on deepening and strengthening engagement across our 18
million customers, supported by the expansion of our digital railcard base.
This helped mitigate the impact of rail operators promoting features on their
own online channels that we are not permitted to offer.

"In Europe, we are benefiting from new carrier competition - including in
South-East France, where we grew 26%. Foreign travel to the continent bounced
back in H2, highlighting our growing ability to capture new AI traffic."

 

FY2026 trading performance summary(2):

Group net ticket sales increased to £6.3 billion, 7% higher YoY, within
Trainline's FY2026 guidance range for growth of between 6% to 9%.

Group revenue was £453 million, growing 2% YoY, tracking towards the upper
end of Trainline's FY2026 guidance range for growth of between 0% to 3%. This
was supported by the continued growth of ancillary revenues, including hotel
and insurance sales, up 17% across UK Consumer and International Consumer.

UK Consumer net ticket sales were £4.1 billion, 6% higher given continued
strength in leisure travel sales and recovery in the commuter market. To
strengthen customer loyalty and engagement, Trainline launched its 'Way to
Train' disruption features and further grew its digital railcard user base by
16% YoY to 2.7 million(3). As expected, Trainline's growth was partly offset
by Project Oval(4) - TFL's expansion of its contactless payment network - plus
the growing impact from TOC's self-preferencing of their own online retail
channels - including offering 1-click delay-repay, a feature third party
retailers are expressly prohibited from providing to their customers.
 Trainline continues to take an assertive stance to bring about a fair retail
market, including engaging with government and other stakeholders on the
Railways Bill and development of the Code of Practice for GBR. In addition,
the Company recently launched an online petition to make automated delay-repay
available to all customers - whichever retailing site they use - that has
garnered over 25,000 signatures to date.

UK Consumer revenue was £204 million, down 2% given the reduction in the
headline commission rate in the UK from April 2025 (from 5.0% to 4.5%, as
previously announced in 2022), plus the mix effect of growing faster in
on-the-day travel, which generates relatively lower rates of revenue than
longer-distance travel. Excluding the impact of the commission rate cut,
Trainline's revenue in FY2026 would have grown 7%, outpacing net ticket sales
growth as the Company continues to scale its ancillary products and features.

International Consumer net ticket sales were £1.1 billion, up 3% YoY (5% on a
reported basis). Trainline continued to actively focus marketing investment on
European high-speed routes with emerging carrier competition. This notably
included the French South-East network given Trenitalia's recent expansion of
services in the region, where Trainline's sales were up 26%. However, growth
in Spain was significantly disrupted in H2 by safety concerns affecting supply
and consumer confidence, following a series of tragic rail accidents. Foreign
travel sales reaccelerated in H2, up 5% YoY (-2% YoY in H1) as the business
lapped the negative impact of changes to Google's search results page and
benefited from increasing LLM traffic.

International Consumer revenue was £60 million, 10% higher than prior year
(12% on a reported basis). This reflected further growth in ancillary
revenues, including the recent rollout of a new trip insurance product, as
well as recovering foreign travel sales that generate relatively higher levels
of revenue than ticket sales to domestic customers.

Trainline Solutions net ticket sales were £1.1 billion, 14% higher than prior
year (15% on a reported basis). B2B Distribution was the fastest growing
sub-segment, up 36% YoY, reflecting strengthening business travel sales from a
growing number of travel management company clients (including Amex GBT,
Navan, Perk, Havas). This was particularly evident in Europe, where
international B2B sales through Trainline's Global API(5) were up 58%. Sales
growth was partly offset by the loss of Trainline's white label contract in
the UK with rail operator Cross-Country, with a further headwind expected in
FY2027 as ScotRail seeks to move to a new partner, bringing offline and online
sales more closely together. Thereafter, the rail industry is preparing for
TOC online retailing channels to be replaced by the GBR app and website.

Trainline Solutions revenue increased by 4% YoY to £189 million, with the
majority of its revenue generated by the internal transaction fee paid by UK
Consumer and International Consumer(6).

Group adjusted EBITDA growth is expected to fall within Trainline's FY2026
previously-upgraded guidance range of between 10% to 13%. This growth would be
notably faster than net ticket sales and revenue growth, reflecting the
benefit of Trainline's operating leverage, more focused marketing spend and
its prior year cost optimisation exercise.

Progress against enhanced share buyback programme:

As at 6th March 2026, Trainline had acquired £75 million shares from its
existing £150 million share repurchase programme (which commenced on 22nd
September 2025), supported by strong cash generation. In January 2026, the
Company gained authority from shareholders to buy 14.99% of shares over the
subsequent 12-month period.

Since it launched its first buyback programme in September 2023, Trainline has
bought back and cancelled £275 million worth of shares (representing 21% of
issued share capital(7)).

Notice of full-year results:

The Company will publish its results for the financial year 2026 (the
twelve-month period running from 1st March 2025 to 28th February 2026) on
Wednesday 6th May 2026.

The Full Year results will be published at 07.00am (UK time) through the
regulatory news service (RNS) and on the Company's website, followed by an
analyst presentation at 9.00am (UK time) which will also be accessible
through the Company's website.

 

 

Footnotes:

2.        Year-on-year (YoY) growth comparatives are on a constant
currency basis unless otherwise stated.

3.        Trainline's digital railcard user base as at 3(rd) January
2026.

4.        Trainline continues to expect the full impact of Project Oval
to put c.£150 million of UK Consumer net ticket sales at risk.

5.        More information on Trainline's Global API can be found here:
https://tps.thetrainline.com/our-products/global-api/
(https://tps.thetrainline.com/our-products/global-api/)

6.        The internal transaction fee is recorded as a contra-revenue
in segmental reporting for UK Consumer and International Consumer, and
eliminated on consolidation so does not form part of total Group revenues.
This fee is charged to UK Consumer and International Consumer businesses by
Trainline Solutions in order to access Platform One.

7.        Calculated by reference to the original number of shares in
issue at the start of Trainline's first share buyback programme in September
2023 (481 million shares).

 

 

Enquiries

For investor enquiries, Andrew Gillian
 
investors@trainline.com (mailto:investors@trainline.com)

For media enquiries, Nichola Johnson-Marshall
              press@trainline.com (mailto:press@trainline.com)

 

Brunswick Group

Simone Selzer
                                +44 207 404
5959 / trainline@brunswickgroup.com (mailto:trainline@brunswickgroup.com)

 

About Trainline:

Trainline (www.trainline.com) is the leading independent rail and coach travel
platform selling rail and coach tickets to millions of travellers worldwide,
enabling them to seamlessly search, book and manage their journeys all in one
place via its highly rated website and mobile app. Trainline is a one-stop
shop for rail and coach travel bringing together millions of routes, fares and
journey times from rail and coach carriers across Europe.

 

Unaudited figures:

All figures in this document are unaudited.

 

This announcement includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which
are beyond the Group's control and all of which are based on the Directors'
current beliefs and expectations about future events. Forward-looking
statements are sometimes identified by the use of forward-looking terminology
such as "guidance", "believe", "expects", "may", "will", "could", "should",
"shall", "risk", "intends", "estimates", "aims", "plans", "predicts",
"continues", "assumes", "positioned", "targets" or "anticipates" or the
negative thereof, other variations thereon or comparable terminology. These
forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts
and include statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current
expectations of the Directors or the Group concerning, among other things, the
results of operations, financial condition, prospects, growth, strategies, and
dividend policy of the Group and the industry in which it operates. No
assurance can be given that such future results will be achieved; actual
events or results may differ materially as a result of risks and uncertainties
facing the Group. Such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to
vary materially from the future results indicated, expressed, or implied in
such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements contained in
this announcement speak only as of the date of this announcement.

 

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