Trainline pulls guidance; Can operate through 'extended downturn'

The company said it it had enough cash to operate through an extended downturn if the Covid-19 lockdown continued.

Trainline reported a 17% rise in full year ticket sales to £3.7bn, in line with guidance. Revenue rose 24% to £261m, at top end of forecasts, while adjusted core earnings guidance soared 62% to £85m.

The company, which sells train tickets online, on Thursday said it expected liquidity headroom to be around £150m at the May 2020 after completing working capital outflow from settling pre-existing bookings to train and coach operators as well as processing refunds to customers.

It also warned of a significant impact on trading in the first quarter of the current fiscal year as a result of Covid-19 lockdown, with UK and European passenger volumes currently down more than 95%.

“Given the expected monthly cash outflow from operating costs and capital expenditure of £8m - £9m, the group has sufficient liquidity to operate for the foreseeable future even with no revenue generation or further cost mitigation,” the company said.

Trainline said in the shorter term it expected the pandemic to encourage a faster shift to digital ticketing as passengers avoided ticket machines or station queues to avoid contracting the virus.