Trainline delivers robust FY2026 results: net ticket sales up 7%, EBITDA rises 11%

Trainline has put in a solid FY2026 performance, and the headline numbers are better than the modest revenue growth first suggests. Net ticket sales – which means the total value of tickets sold through the platform, not Trainline’s own revenue – rose 7% to £6.3 billion, while adjusted EBITDA – a common profit measure that strips out items like depreciation, amortisation and share-based pay – climbed 11% to £177 million.

That matters because this was a year when the business had to absorb a previously flagged cut to UK commission rates. Even with that drag, operating profit jumped 43% to £122 million and basic earnings per share rose 48% to 19.4p. For retail investors, that says Trainline is still finding ways to grow profitably even when the rules of the game get a bit tougher.

Trainline FY2026 key numbers show profit growth beating revenue growth

Metric	FY2026	FY2025	Change
Net ticket sales	£6.3 billion	£5.9 billion	+7%
Revenue	£453 million	£442 million	+2%
Adjusted EBITDA	£177 million	£159 million	+11%
Operating profit	£122 million	£86 million	+43%
Basic EPS	19.4p	13.1p	+48%
Adjusted free cash flow	£66 million	£72 million	-9%

The standout feature here is operating leverage. In plain English, Trainline managed to grow profit faster than sales because costs were kept under control and gross profit improved. Gross profit rose 6% to £374 million, helped by lower cost of sales and efficiency gains in areas like payment processing and customer service.

The less impressive bit is revenue growth of only 2%. But that number needs context. The UK commission rate on online sales fell from 5.0% to 4.5% from April 2025, and Trainline says that alone held back reported revenue. Excluding that cut, UK Consumer revenue would have grown 7%.

UK Consumer performance: good demand, but commission cuts and self-preferencing are real headwinds

UK Consumer net ticket sales rose 6% to £4.1 billion, which is respectable. Trainline said leisure travel stayed strong, and commuter growth was better in the first half. But growth slowed in the second half due to Project Oval, Transport for London’s contactless expansion, and train operators pushing customers towards their own channels.

That last point matters more than it sounds. Train operators have been able to offer features like automated Delay Repay that third-party retailers such as Trainline could not. Trainline has clearly spent a fair bit of time and money fighting that corner, which shows up in higher legal and public affairs costs.

There was, however, a useful regulatory win. The Government has committed that once Great British Railways is established, passengers will be able to claim Delay Repay compensation from wherever they bought their ticket, including Trainline. That does not fix things overnight, but it is a meaningful positive for Trainline’s long-term competitive position in UK rail retailing.

Revenue in UK Consumer fell 2% to £204 million, but that was mainly the commission cut doing the damage. The encouraging part is that ancillary revenues – extras like hotel bookings and insurance – grew at a strong double-digit rate. That tells you Trainline is trying to squeeze more value from its 18 million active UK customers rather than relying only on ticket commissions.

International Consumer and Trainline Solutions give Trainline two important growth engines

International Consumer is not yet a big profit machine, but it is moving the right way. Net ticket sales grew 5% reported, or 3% at constant currency, to £1.1 billion. Revenue rose 12% to £60 million and the adjusted EBITDA loss improved from £20 million to £11 million.

That narrowing loss is important because management expects International Consumer to breakeven in FY2027. If they achieve that, the international business stops being a drag and starts becoming a proper earnings contributor.

There were some bright spots. Sales in South-East France jumped 26% after Trenitalia expanded services, which fits Trainline’s strategy of benefiting when more rail operators compete on the same routes. Spain also remains a growth market, although Trainline said recent tragic rail accidents affected demand.

Trainline Solutions was the strongest division operationally. Net ticket sales rose 15% to £1.1 billion, with B2B Distribution up 36%. International B2B sales through its Global API were up 58%, as travel management companies increased rail bookings across Europe.

That is a useful diversification point for investors. Trainline is not just a consumer app anymore. It is also becoming rail infrastructure for travel businesses, and that tends to be a stickier, less headline-grabbing stream of growth.

Trainline AI strategy and app scale are helping build a stronger moat

Companies love talking about AI, but Trainline’s update was more concrete than most. It launched AI-powered disruption tools, including travel forecasts, an in-app AI travel assistant, and Delay Repay notifications. Since launch, Travel Forecast has delivered updates to over 3 million users, while the AI assistant has handled over two million conversations.

That is not just shiny tech for the sake of it. Rail travel is messy when things go wrong, so tools that reduce friction can improve customer loyalty. In a market where operators are self-preferencing and Great British Railways Online Retail is on the horizon, Trainline needs its app to feel genuinely better than the alternatives.

The company also said it integrated its app into ChatGPT and has a leading share of generative AI citations across core markets. Early days, absolutely, but it does suggest management is trying to protect Trainline’s relevance as search behaviour changes.

Cash flow, debt and share buybacks: strong shareholder returns, but leverage has increased

Not everything here was spotless. Adjusted free cash flow fell 9% to £66 million, mainly because working capital moved against the business due to timing effects, including the year-end landing on a weekend. Trainline says that was largely timing-related rather than a deterioration in the underlying model.

Net debt increased to £170 million from £76 million. The main reason was the scale of share buybacks. Over the last twelve months, Trainline repurchased £147 million of shares, and by 30 April 2026 had bought back £94 million under its current £150 million programme.

In total, Trainline has repurchased £294 million of shares since September 2023, equivalent to 23% of issued share capital based on the original share count. That is a chunky return of capital. Good news if you like shareholder distributions, though investors should still note that debt has risen to help fund it.

Trainline FY2027 guidance: steady outlook with headwinds still in play

Management expects FY2027 net ticket sales of £6.2 billion to £6.45 billion, revenue of £440 million to £455 million, and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net ticket sales of around 2.9%. That compares with 2.80% in FY2026, so the message is steady improvement rather than breakout growth.

The headwinds are clear enough. In the UK, Project Oval, the fare freeze until March 2027, and operator self-preferencing remain an issue. In Europe, Trainline flagged rail disruption in Spain and weaker inbound air traffic into Europe due to Middle East tensions.

So the near-term story is not a straight line up. Still, if International Consumer does reach breakeven and UK regulation becomes fairer, there is a credible path to better margins over time.

What Trainline FY2026 results mean for retail investors

My take is that this is a good set of results with a couple of caveats. The positive side is clear: ticket volumes are growing, profits are growing faster, the international business is improving, and Trainline is still returning serious cash to shareholders through buybacks.

The negatives are also real. Revenue growth is being squeezed by lower commission rates, cash flow dipped, and net debt is up. On top of that, the UK rail market remains politically and regulatorily messy, and that is not fully in Trainline’s control.

Overall, though, Trainline looks like a business that is executing well in a complicated environment. It is defending its UK position, building scale in Europe, and turning its platform into something broader than a ticket-selling app. For investors, that is probably the key point – this is not a perfect year, but it is a credible one.