A continued recovery in business travel has been cited as helping boost Eurostar’s sales revenue by12% last year to £760 million.
The rise from £675.5 million in 2009 also came through a rise in the number of people opting for high speed rail over flying for short haul travel in Europe, the company said.
Total passenger numbers rose by 3% year on year to 9.5 million.
Eurostar said the business market had performed well “reflecting the bounce-back in business activity” first reported in its second quarter.
Chief executive Nicolas Petrovic said: “We have reported a strong performance in 2010 with growth in both sales revenues and passenger numbers.
“The turnaround in the business market continued in the second half of the year.
“We are also starting to see a real shift in behaviour as customers are increasingly keen to explore new destinations by high speed rail.”
Eurostar is to spend £700 million from this year on an overhaul and redesign of the fleet as well as the purchase of 10 new trains.
The new Eurostar e320 trains will be equipped to travel direct to a range of city centre destinations beyond its main routes of London-Paris and London-Brussels.
Petrovic added: “With the expansion of new routes and services we are witnessing a real renaissance in rail travel.
“The combination of shorter journey times and environmental concerns are prompting more and more customers to choose high speed rail over plane.
“As the key link between the UK and the continent we see considerable potential for growth and expansion in an open-access world.”
The company described 2010 as a “transformational year” as it switched from being a partnership between three railways – SNCF, LCR and SNCB – into a single, unified corporate entity.
“This new structure puts Eurostar in a strong position to compete in an open-access world of on-rail competition,” the company said.