TIDMTRN
RNS Number : 8677R
Trainline PLC
11 March 2021
TRAINLINE PLC TRADING STATEMENT AND NOTICE OF FULL YEAR
RESULTS
11(th) March 2021
Trainline in strong position for recovery as restrictions ease
and rail passengers return
Trading performance for FY 2021
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 2021 (1 (st) March 2020
to 28(th) February 2021).
Twelve months ended 28 February 2021
FY 2021 FY 2020 % of PY
------------------------- ------------- ------------ ------------
Net ticket sales (GBPm)
UK Consumer 473 2,046 23%
UK T4B 75 1,191 6%
------------- ------------ ------------
Total UK 548 3,237 17%
International 235 490 48%
Total Group 783 3,727 21%
------------- ------------ ------------
Revenue (GBPm)
UK Consumer 44 178 25%
UK T4B 12 57 21%
------------- ------------ ------------
Total UK 56 235 24%
International 11 26 43%
Total Group 67 261 26%
------------- ------------ ------------
% of PY represents percentage of net ticket sales and revenue vs
the equivalent prior year period
COVID-19 and the government measures to curb its spread led to a
significant reduction of passenger volume in FY 2021. With national
and regional lockdowns, and social distancing restrictions in place
for much of the year, Group net ticket sales decreased to GBP783
million, equivalent to 21% of the prior year.
While the current trading environment remains challenging,
vaccine roll-outs and government roadmaps to ease lockdowns are
expected to create the conditions necessary for recovery.
Encouragingly, when lockdowns and restrictions were eased during
the Summer months of 2020, leisure and commuter passenger volumes
recovered relatively quickly in Trainline's key European markets,
while Trainline's UK Consumer net ticket sales recovered faster
than the market, reflecting an acceleration in the shift to online
and digital channels.
-- UK Consumer net ticket sales of GBP473 million were 23% of
prior year, peaking in August (between the first and second
lockdowns) at 46% vs the wider industry passenger volumes at
34%(1)
-- UK Trainline for Business (UK T4B) net ticket sales of GBP75
million was 6% of prior year, with demand for business travel
remaining subdued and with the White Label business impacted by
season ticket refunds
-- The International business showed the strongest recovery,
reflecting an earlier and more prolonged relaxation of restrictions
in our key European markets. This helped International net ticket
sales recover to GBP235 million, or 48% of the same period in the
prior year, including all of Trainline's top 3 domestic markets
(France, Italy, Germany) returning to year-on-year growth in the
summer months
The decline in Group net ticket sales resulted in Group revenue
decreasing to GBP67 million, 26% of revenue in the prior year:
-- UK Consumer revenue declined to GBP44 million, 25% of prior
year, driven by the material reduction in net ticket sales. Revenue
take-rate (the rate of revenue generated from net ticket sales) was
distorted upwards by a significant ly higher number of refunds in
the period, partly offset by a lower mix of customers from
overseas, who tend to generate higher revenue per transaction
-- UK T4B revenue declined to GBP12 million, 21% of prior year,
given materially lower net ticket sales, offset in part by a higher
proportion of fixed fee income for our White Label business. As
with UK Consumer, UK T4B's revenue take-rate was distorted by a
significant ly higher volume of refunds processed in the period
-- International revenue decreased to GBP11 million, 43% of the
prior year, given the material reduction in net ticket sales. As
with the UK, International take-rate was impacted by a lower mix of
inbound customers from overseas
Monthly cash burn lower than guidance and liquidity
significantly improved
With the onset of COVID-19 (which coincided with the start of
Trainline's fiscal year), Trainline took quick and decisive steps
to mitigate the impact on the business. This included significantly
reducing its average monthly cash burn to c.GBP5 million(2)
(outperforming the guided range of c.GBP8-9 million). As a result
of the savings in operating expenditure, Trainline expects to
report an Adj. EBITDA loss for FY 2021 of between GBP(24)-(27)
million.
The Group's liquidity position was significantly bolstered by
the issuance of GBP150 million of convertible bonds in January
2021, protecting the business against an extended COVID-19 downturn
scenario while giving greater flexibility to invest in potential
future growth opportunities. The Group's liquidity headroom at the
end of February 2021 was c.GBP260 million.
With the vaccine roll-out and prospective easing of lockdowns,
Trainline is ready to increase marketing investment, in step with
the return of customer demand, and support the recovery of the rail
industry in the UK and Europe.
Ready to lead the accelerated online and digital shift
While significantly reducing operating expenditure through the
pandemic, Trainline maintained its investment in its product
roadmap, enhancing the experience for customers and driving long
term growth for shareholders.
In doing so, Trainline is well placed to lead the shift to
online and digital, and to support the industry's recovery,
offering customers:
-- An enhanced 'new commuter' experience, powered by our
proprietary data and AI to provide improved on-the-day messaging
and predictive travel info (e.g. Crowd Alerts, delays and
disruption), and an investment in in-app digital season ticket
technology that lays the foundations for the future roll-out of new
Flexi Tickets
-- Better value through new in-app railcards, making it easier
and more convenient for customers to save up to a third off rail
travel, as well as the SplitSave split-ticketing feature
-- Much improved self-serve functionality, including automated
change of journey and refunds in the app and the website, and the
launch of Delay Repay in France
-- Access to new entrants as competition grows in our European
markets, adding low cost carrier Avlo in Spain which will compete
head to head on key routes
-- Europe-wide B2B rail inventory distribution through a single
connection to our new Global API platform
Jody Ford, CEO of Trainline said:
"The last twelve months have clearly been challenging for the
industry. However, we are confident we will see more customers
booking rail travel online and a continued market shift to digital
when government lockdown restrictions ease, as we did last
summer.
"Over the year we have kept our foot on the accelerator
improving the customer experience, which means we are well
positioned to capitalise on this shift to online and digital, and
to support rail industry recovery when people start travelling
again. In particular, we have leveraged our customer insights and
data to understand the 'new commuter' and invested in app
technology that will support the UK roll-out of new Flexi
Tickets.
"As I step into the CEO role, I am excited by Trainline's huge
potential and its purpose. One of our major strengths is our
people, and I want to thank them for their response to the
pandemic, for continuing to innovate on behalf of our customers and
for their work positioning us to support our industry partners for
the recovery. We remain committed to championing rail as a greener
mode of travel for millions of customers around Europe, and to
driving the significant long-term growth opportunity for this
business."
Notice of full-year results
Trainline will publish its full-year results for the financial
year 2021 (the twelve-month period running from 1 (st) March 2020
to 28(th) February 2021) on Thursday 6(th) May 2021.
The full-year results will be published at 07.00am (UK time)
through the regulatory news service (RNS) and on the Company's
website .
Notes
1. Industry passenger numbers, as reported by the UK Government
Department for Transport (simple daily average)
2. Cash burn is adjusted EBITDA less tangible and intangible
asset additions, less interest paid and less lease liabilities
paid, averaged over Mar 2020 - Feb 2021
Enquiries
For investor enquiries, Andrew Gillian investors@trainline.com
For media enquiries, Victoria Biggs +44 7850 205490 / press@trainline.com
Brunswick Group
Simone Selzer +44 207 404 5959 /
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.
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.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
TSTVBLFFFXLFBBZ
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 11, 2021 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
Trainline (LSE:TRN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Trainline (LSE:TRN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024