Gloucester produced 1.9 million tonnes of coal during the year and reported a 77% increase in net profit after tax of $A40.3 million, compared to $22.8m in 2005.

Earnings per share reached 50.8 cents, compared to 29.3 cents per share for the 2005 financial year.

The significant increase in profit has allowed the company to consider a range of growth options including acquisitions, chief executive Gavin May said.

“It has been an outstanding year for Gloucester Coal. Our employees have recorded another year without a lost time injury, our exploration team has discovered the Clareval seam and the efficient coal mining operations have allowed the company to maximise the benefit of strong sales prices to deliver record results for our shareholders,” May said.

May said the company had continued to generate strong sales growth during the year, achieving record revenues of $153.7 million from the sale of coal, representing an increase of 57% from the prior period as a result of continued demand for both coking and thermal coal.

“Importantly, we believe this demand will continue into next year as we already have contracts in place for a significant proportion of our product,” he said.

During the year the company secured 100% ownership of the Gloucester Basin assets with the acquisition of Itochu’s 10% share of the Stratford Joint Venture, for $8.3m.

Gloucester chairman Andy Hogendijk said the company has an extensive exploration program planned for the coming years, which would continue to add coal resources and reserves to extend mine life in the Gloucester Basin.