Trainline has reported a 12% annual rise in sales to a record £5.9bn in its latest annual results, although this wasn’t enough to prevent the group’s share price from tumbling by more than 11%.

Shares in the FTSE 250 listed company fell over concerns that the Government may bring in a rival national ticketing app.

The train ticket platform was publishing its full-year results for the 12 months to 28 February, and also reported an 11% increase in group revenue to £442m.

Trainline also announced plans to return £75m to shareholders though a new share buyback scheme upon its trading performance.

CEO at Trainline, Jody Ford, said: “With record net ticket sales for the third year in a row, we saw growth in consumer sales in the UK of 13% and in Spain of 41%, while international B2B sales through our Global API increased by about 60%.

“There is still so much to be achieved in the UK and Europe with the critical foundation being open, fair and competitive markets. Rail is set to surge across Europe and Trainline will be at the centre of it.”

Despite the improved performance, however, Trainline’s share price slipped to £2.77 in the morning’s trading.

This follows rumours that the Government could propose a simplification of the ticketing system in the rail industry, which could damage Trainline’s currently dominant position in the market.

In its latest trading statement, Trainline acknowledged the Government’s current consultation on Great British Rail (GBR), noting that it would come in by 2027 at the earliest.

Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould, said that Trainline’s share buyback had “done little to assuage market concerns”.

He added: “It is all well and good for the company to point out that the GBR ticketing app won’t appear until 2027 at the earliest and that the Government has committed to a ‘fair, open and competitive’ market. However, a big selling point for Trainline is it enables people to navigate what is a complex ticketing set-up in the UK with several different operators.

“If GBR works as intended, the system should be simplified and it is unlikely that a state-backed platform would charge commission in the same way that Trainline does, leaving the business reliant on its brand recognition.

“Even if this competitive threat is some way down the track, the fact it is coming at some point means there is a measure of uncertainty about Trainline’s future prospects.”

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