By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Trainline (LON:TRNT) stock rose over 20% at the open on Wednesday as a sharp rebound in tourism in the spring led it to raise its guidance.
The company, which specializes in online ticket sales for train travel across Europe, said that net ticket sales were up 16% in the four months through June, relative to the same period before the pandemic, citing "a faster than anticipated recovery in rail passenger volume across Europe - including a notable resurgence of inbound customers from the U.S. - as well as the benefit of Trainline increasing its investment in its International business."
Trainline said it now expects sales for the year ending February 2023 to be up by between 18% and 27% from pre-Covid levels, while overall revenue should rise by between 22% and 31%.
It expects an EBITDA margin of only around 2%, however.
In May, the company had said it expects net ticket sales of around 4 billion pounds ($4.8 billion) in the current year, generating revenue of between 280 million and 310 million pounds.
The outlook for the rail sector has improved markedly as Europe has mostly relaxed its restrictions on mobility as the Covid-19 virus has mutated into less virulent strains. However, a number of countries, including large markets such as the U.K. and France, are quickly running into fresh constraints in the form of labor disputes. The U.K. is facing its first national strike by train drivers in more than two decades, while in France, a strike by staff at rail operator SNCF is set to disrupt traffic heavily in the next few days.
By 3:20 AM ET (0720 GMT), Trainline shares were up 20.6% at their highest since November 2021.