A surge in business travellers has helped Channel Tunnel high-speed train company Eurostar record increased sales in the first part of the year.

Sales revenue from January to March reached £227 million (€276 million) – a seven per cent increase on the first three months of 2013.

Passenger numbers for the first three months of this year were up three per cent to 2.3 million with the number of business premier class travellers rising six per cent.

Leisure travellers increased three per cent despite the fact that numbers last year were boosted by an earlier Easter.

Numbers for this year’s April-June period could be slightly affected by the operational problems last Thursday when Eurostar was forced to cancel a number of services.

Commenting on the financial figures for January-March, Eurostar chief executive Nicolas Petrovic said: “The improvement we have seen in the corporate travel market in recent months underpins the strong performance reported.”

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