Is it worth buying shares in Trainline? Your options explained

Trainline often divides opinion: some commuters love the ticket-selling website for its ease of use, others resent the booking fee added onto their purchases.
But investors in the FTSE 250 business have plenty to smile about: business is booming, with annual revenue up 20 per cent to £397 million in 2024, as more travellers buy digital tickets and high-speed rail routes liberalise across Europe. In the past 12 months, the shares have staged a remarkable rally, rising by 43 per cent.
Around two thirds of Trainline’s business is with British consumers, with the remainder split between journeys in mainland Europe and corporate customers. It is the biggest app service of its kind in Europe, with almost twice as many downloads as Deutsche Bahn and the French SNCF. In the UK alone it has more than 12 million monthly active users.
It can be cheaper to buy train tickets directly via the rail operator, but millions of Trainline customers are willing to pay the fee for a smoother booking experience and its split ticket option: last week’s half-year results showed a 17 per cent rise in revenue to £229 million while operating profit more than doubled to £49 million.
The company expects that by the end of its 2025 financial year, ended in February, it will have achieved revenue growth of somewhere between 11 and 13 per cent. There is still plenty of room for expansion in the UK, given that only around 47 per cent of train tickets are sold online here, compared with around 90 per cent in the airline industry.
But investors are eyeing the €44 billion market in Europe as a key engine for growth. While in Britain calls are growing for the renationalisation of rail companies, markets are starting to liberalise on the continent, particularly in France, Spain and Italy.
In Spain and Italy, Trainline’s net ticket sales rose by 23 per cent in the first half of this year. France was softer, falling 3 per cent, though that was because the company has decided to pause brand marketing until there is more widespread carrier competition, and there was wider travel disruption in the country because of the summer Olympics.
That being said, Trainline’s chunky profits are often dragged into the debate around the state of British rail. There was speculation in the run up to the general election that Labour could introduce a national rail ticket website and app, though this idea was sidelined. But there are still calls for change: indeed Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, has described Trainline as a “profiteering machine”.
It is perhaps a good thing then that Trainline has been actively developing revenue streams outside of its booking fee, such as through partnerships with the hotel booking website Booking.com and travel insurance offers. There are some encouraging signs here: total revenue growth outpaced net ticket sales growth in the first half, up 17 per cent compared with 14 per cent, likely thanks to these ancillary services. It was even starker within the international consumer division, where net ticket sales were up by 6 per cent, but revenue grew by 21 per cent.
This column last rated Trainline as a hold in February, and since then the shares have delivered a total return of just over 31 per cent. With a leading market position, structural growth on the continent and best-in-class technology, Trainline certainly merits a quality rating.
It trades at a forward enterprise value (EV) to adjusted cash profit (Ebitda) ratio of 12, falling to 11 for the 2026 financial year. This is by no means cheap, but not as demanding as comparable online platforms such as Rightmove and Auto Trader, which trade at a forward EV to Ebitda multiple of 17.2 and 17.8 respectively.
Advice BuyWhy Huge market opportunity in Europe