Eurostar hails 'record-breaking' year as profits jump

A high-speed Eurostar train leaves the Channel tunnel near the Eurotunnel terminal of Coquelles near Calais, northern France, July 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol )

Eurostar hailed a “record-breaking year” as the Channel Tunnel rail line revealed that revenues for 2013 jumped by 7 per cent.

The Anglo-French firm — which last year carried more than 10 million passengers for the first time — said operating profits for the year rose 4 per cent from 2012 to £54 million.

"2013 has proved to be a record-breaking year for Eurostar," said boss Nicolas Petrovic, "and we are pleased with the sustainable growth in both traveller numbers and sales revenues reported today."

Revenues from business travellers jumped 6.2 per cent year-on-year as Petrovic declared Eurostar, which will mark its 20th anniversary of operating in May, was seeing "more confidence in the business market".

He added: "In comparison with this time last year there are more encouraging trends and in some sectors there is clearly a greater appetite to invest and look for business."

Leisure traveller sales, meanwhile, gained 7.5 per cent, as total passenger numbers reached 10.1 million, up 2 per cent. Eurostar is expanding its destinations, with a new direct service between London and Amsterdam expected to start in 2016.

A trial service in 2013 to Lyon and Provence in the south of France will become a permanent year-round route in 2015.