BEIJING - European companies said China is an increasingly important "strategic market," according to an annual business confidence survey released by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China on Wednesday.

Up to 78 percent of the companies surveyed registered significant revenue increases last year, while 71 percent reported a rise in net profits, according to the survey, which sampled 598 European companies in China.

European companies are planning for increased long-term investment in China, the survey said, with 59 percent of surveyed companies planning on staying and growing in China in 2011.

Davide Cucino, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, said European companies are "well-positioned to contribute to China's aim to switch to a more balanced economic growth model."

European companies are also looking forward to more opportunities in China's budding clean energy industry, as well as its service industry, he said. Both of these industries will receive boosts this year as the result of new policies included in China's 12th Five-year Plan.