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UK Coal, the country's largest mining company, has reported a 143 per cent increase in pre-tax profits.

In a statement today, the Doncaster-based company revealed that its pre-tax profits climbed to £40.6 million in the six months to June 30th, up from the £16.7 million reported for the corresponding period in 2006.

The strong performance was attributed to an increase in the value of UK Coal's property holdings and the growing profitability of its mines.

According to the company, its own estimates suggest that its land and property portfolio will be worth some £900 million by 2012. That represents a 12 per cent increase on the previous estimate of £800 million, reported at the end of last year.

UK Coal said that the performance of its deep mines had been "turned around" and said they were now well placed to benefit from expected new sales contracts at higher prices, reflecting greater world demand for coal.

Surface mines also performed well, with four active sites more than tripling their output to 700,000 tonnes. UK Coal has also gained consent to open a further three sites.

The company added that "considerable progress" had also been made in reducing the proportion of total output contracted for sale at historic prices.

Commenting on the performance, UK Coal chairman David Jones said: "These good results demonstrate the considerable progress UK Coal has made in the first half of the year.

"We have significantly increased the value of our property business, strengthened the operating performance and prospects of our mining businesses, more than doubled pre-tax profits and significantly grown the value of net assets per share," he added.