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Trainline under new ownership
Exponent Private Equity has acquired Trainline, the online and call centre rail retailer and information provider in the UK.
The company was bought for £163m from a consortium of shareholders that include Virgin, Stagecoach and National Express transport groups.
Trainline was launched in 1999 to sell rail tickets through the internet and call centres.
The business has expanded in the last seven years, acquiring rival QJump from National Express Group in 2004.
Alongside its own website, thetrainline.com, Trainline operates websites for 16 of the 21 Train Operating Companies.
It also provides a rail business travel service direct to a number of blue chip corporations and travel agents.
In the year to March 2006, the company sold around £400 million worth of train tickets and earned revenue of £47.5m and Ebitda of £11.7m.
The company’s management team is led by Alan Tomlin who founded Trainline in 1999 and became CEO in 2001, Mark Furlong, commercial director who joined Trainline in 2002, and Jon Mitchell, finance director who joined in 2004.
Trainline employs 91 people at offices in London and Edinburgh and around 600 people through its outsource arrangements with global IT and call centre service providers.
Exponent said in a statement: “Trainline is well-positioned to grow further reflecting the burgeoning UK rail market and increasing penetration of internet sales.”
Commenting on behalf of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson said: “We have nurtured the business through the dotcom boom and crash and always had confidence that it would play its part in the internet rail ticketing revolution that is now taking place.
“For some time now the rail industry and ATOC have been encouraging Virgin and the minority shareholders to divest their interests in the business through either a trade sale or flotation in order to provide it with greater independence from any individual train operator.
“Today’s deal with Exponent has been welcomed by the industry and provides Trainline with a solid platform for further growth.”
London-based Exponent was founded in August 2004 and has 10 investment professionals.
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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