For its financial year ending March 31, PCA revenues grew by 6.2pc to $62.9 million with earnings before interest and taxes increasing by 53.4pc to $5.2 million.

Net profit after tax increased by 7.5pc to $1.97 million despite the additional interest cost associated with a $9 million Northern Territory farm acquisition in mid 2007 not scheduled to contribute net earnings until the current 2008-09 year.

In December 2007, through a placement to new shareholders, $5.05 million of new equity capital was injected.

The balance sheet has since been further strengthened subsequent to the close of the financial year with a $6.5 million rights issue in June.

PCA, an unlisted public company that processes both Australian and imported peanuts, has been quietly putting consecutive years of growth and earnings behind it, together with an exciting climate change strategy to ensure it future success.

In recent times, the media has focussed on the need to understand the commercial impacts of climate change, Bob Hansen, the CEO said, and the company recognised this reality many years ago, instigating a climate change strategy from the mid 1990s.

The initial thrust of this strategy was one of geographic diversification with an increased focus for supply from regions outside of the drought impacted traditional South East Queensland region.

Progressively, supply from the Bundaberg, Atherton Tablelands and Northern Territory has increased to provide more security.

In addition to the geographic diversification of supply, Bob Hansen has also activated two further elements of a climate change strategy aimed to increase security of supply and reduced need for imports.

Two properties have been purchased in the Northern Territory on which PCA farms its own peanuts.

The first and smaller property was purchased in 2002 and demonstrated that PCA could profitably produce peanuts in the Northern Territory thus giving PCA the confidence to purchase further 11,700 hectares (3,500 hectares arable when developed). The first crop from a summer planting was harvested in April 2008.

In addition to the farm acquisitions in the Northern Territory, PCA has also purchased water rights in the Bundaberg region which are then leased predominantly to sugar farmers to plant peanuts as part of their sugar rotation program.