Trainline shares surge on upbeat FY outlook as sales rise 8%

(Sharecast News) - Shares in Trainline surged on Thursday as the online ticketing platform said it expected full-year earnings to be at the upper end of guidance after an 8% jump in interim sales and would start a £150m share buyback. The company now expects adjusted core profits to grow at the top end of its previous guidance range of between 6% and 9%. Trainline shares were up 8% in London having risen 15% at one stage.

However, the stock is down 34% in the year to date after warnings about "headwinds", including the expansion of London's contactless travel zone and economic uncertainty denting foreign travel.

UK consumer net ticket sales for the six months to August 31 were 8% higher at £2.1bn, while the international business grew 2% to £594m as Trainline focused investment on European high-speed routes with emerging carrier competition.

In Southeast France, increased carrier competition between Paris, Lyon and Marseille drove second quarter sales growth of 34% driven by Trenitalia expanding its services in the region.

"Rail liberalisation in Europe continues to demonstrate the value Trainline brings as the preeminent domestic aggregator," said chief executive Jody Ford.

Analysts at broker Shore Capital retained their 'buy' recommendation on the stock, adding that they felt equity is being unfairly discounted due to "wider UK government noise", referring to plans to create a publicly-owned online train ticket retailer.

"Trainline is well positioned, in our view, to take advantage of the growing digitalisation of the UK rail network, explore European TAM opportunities in line with planned increased carrier competition, whilst also leveraging the proprietary technology platform for further customer engagement and B2B potential."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com