<p></p><p>Australian almond grower and processor Select Harvests has posted a net profit after tax of $29 million. Select Harvests is the only publicly listed almond company in Australia. It owns orchards in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, as well as consumer brands like Lucky, SunSol and NuVit.</p> <p>The record profit, up 27 per cent on the underlying profit from 2013, comes off the back of a 33 per cent increase in the price of almonds, which outweighed a 17 per cent reduction in the crop. Sales of the company's food brands rose 25 per cent. </p><p><b>Expansion plans announced</b> </p><p>Select Harvests has revealed plans to purchase three more orchards, located in South Australia's Riverland and north-west Victoria. Two of the orchards are established almond properties, including the Amaroo property near Renmark in SA, which is Australia's largest independent almond orchard. The third is a greenfields property, which will be planted to almonds.</p> <p>The company has focussed on the region as it aims to increase its geographical diversity as well as double its planted acres by 2018. </p><p>This morning, shares in Select Harvests went into a trading halt as the company announced a major capital raising to pay for the new acquisitions. </p><p> </p><br><p></p><br>