diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/AbstractApplicationContextFactory.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/AbstractApplicationContextFactory.java
index a424bd16e..5c977b743 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/AbstractApplicationContextFactory.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/AbstractApplicationContextFactory.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory;
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextAware;
 import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.context.support.PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 
 /**
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractApplicationContextFactory implements ApplicationCo
 		this.resource = resource;
 		beanFactoryPostProcessorClasses = new ArrayList<Class<? extends BeanFactoryPostProcessor>>();
 		beanFactoryPostProcessorClasses.add(PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer.class);
+		beanFactoryPostProcessorClasses.add(PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer.class);
 		beanFactoryPostProcessorClasses.add(CustomEditorConfigurer.class);
 		beanPostProcessorExcludeClasses = new ArrayList<Class<?>>();
 		/*
@@ -200,14 +202,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractApplicationContextFactory implements ApplicationCo
 			beanFactory.copyConfigurationFrom(parent);
 			List<BeanPostProcessor> beanPostProcessors = beanFactory instanceof AbstractBeanFactory ? ((AbstractBeanFactory) beanFactory)
 					.getBeanPostProcessors() : new ArrayList<BeanPostProcessor>();
-			for (BeanPostProcessor beanPostProcessor : new ArrayList<BeanPostProcessor>(beanPostProcessors)) {
-				for (Class<?> cls : beanPostProcessorExcludeClasses) {
-					if (cls.isAssignableFrom(beanPostProcessor.getClass())) {
-						logger.debug("Removing bean post processor: " + beanPostProcessor + " of type " + cls);
-						beanPostProcessors.remove(beanPostProcessor);
+					for (BeanPostProcessor beanPostProcessor : new ArrayList<BeanPostProcessor>(beanPostProcessors)) {
+						for (Class<?> cls : beanPostProcessorExcludeClasses) {
+							if (cls.isAssignableFrom(beanPostProcessor.getClass())) {
+								logger.debug("Removing bean post processor: " + beanPostProcessor + " of type " + cls);
+								beanPostProcessors.remove(beanPostProcessor);
+							}
+						}
 					}
-				}
-			}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -223,10 +225,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractApplicationContextFactory implements ApplicationCo
 
 	@Override
 	public boolean equals(Object obj) {
-		if (this == obj)
+		if (this == obj) {
 			return true;
-		if (obj == null)
+		}
+		if (obj == null) {
 			return false;
+		}
 		return toString().equals(obj.toString());
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/GenericApplicationContextFactory.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/GenericApplicationContextFactory.java
index 563007bcc..34e92ce86 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/GenericApplicationContextFactory.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/GenericApplicationContextFactory.java
@@ -58,10 +58,10 @@ public class GenericApplicationContextFactory extends AbstractApplicationContext
 			return new ResourceXmlApplicationContext(parent, (Resource) resource);
 		}
 		if (resource instanceof Class<?>) {
-			return new ResourceAnnotationApplicationContext(parent, (Class<?>) resource);
+			return new ResourceAnnotationApplicationContext(parent, resource);
 		}
 		if (resource instanceof String) {
-			return new ResourceAnnotationApplicationContext(parent, (String) resource);
+			return new ResourceAnnotationApplicationContext(parent, resource);
 		}
 		throw new IllegalArgumentException("No application context could be created for resource type: "
 				+ resource.getClass());
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ public class GenericApplicationContextFactory extends AbstractApplicationContext
 				GenericApplicationContextFactory.this.prepareBeanFactory(parentBeanFactory, beanFactory);
 				for (Class<? extends BeanFactoryPostProcessor> cls : getBeanFactoryPostProcessorClasses()) {
 					for (String name : parent.getBeanNamesForType(cls)) {
-						beanFactory.registerSingleton(name, ((BeanFactoryPostProcessor) parent.getBean(name)));
+						beanFactory.registerSingleton(name, (parent.getBean(name)));
 					}
 				}
 			}
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/GenericApplicationContextFactoryTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/GenericApplicationContextFactoryTests.java
index fbe953213..922c575a6 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/GenericApplicationContextFactoryTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/GenericApplicationContextFactoryTests.java
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ public class GenericApplicationContextFactoryTests {
 				getClass(), "parent-context.xml")));
 		ConfigurableApplicationContext context = factory.createApplicationContext();
 		assertEquals("test-job", context.getBeanNamesForType(Job.class)[0]);
-		assertEquals("bar", ((Job) context.getBean("test-job", Job.class)).getName());
-		assertEquals(4, ((Foo) context.getBean("foo", Foo.class)).values[1], 0.01);
+		assertEquals("bar", context.getBean("test-job", Job.class).getName());
+		assertEquals(4, context.getBean("foo", Foo.class).values[1], 0.01);
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -70,7 +70,20 @@ public class GenericApplicationContextFactoryTests {
 				getClass(), "parent-context.xml")));
 		ConfigurableApplicationContext context = factory.createApplicationContext();
 		assertEquals("test-job", context.getBeanNamesForType(Job.class)[0]);
-		assertEquals("spam", ((Job) context.getBean("test-job", Job.class)).getName());
+		assertEquals("spam", context.getBean("test-job", Job.class).getName());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testBeanFactoryProfileRespected() {
+		GenericApplicationContextFactory factory = new GenericApplicationContextFactory(
+				new ClassPathResource(ClassUtils.addResourcePathToPackagePath(getClass(), "profiles.xml")));
+		ClassPathXmlApplicationContext parentContext = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(ClassUtils.addResourcePathToPackagePath(
+				getClass(), "parent-context.xml"));
+		parentContext.getEnvironment().setActiveProfiles("preferred");
+		factory.setApplicationContext(parentContext);
+		ConfigurableApplicationContext context = factory.createApplicationContext();
+		assertEquals("test-job", context.getBeanNamesForType(Job.class)[0]);
+		assertEquals("spam", context.getBean("test-job", Job.class).getName());
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -84,8 +97,8 @@ public class GenericApplicationContextFactoryTests {
 		factory.setBeanFactoryPostProcessorClasses(classes);
 		ConfigurableApplicationContext context = factory.createApplicationContext();
 		assertEquals("test-job", context.getBeanNamesForType(Job.class)[0]);
-		assertEquals("${foo}", ((Job) context.getBean("test-job", Job.class)).getName());
-		assertEquals(4, ((Foo) context.getBean("foo", Foo.class)).values[1], 0.01);
+		assertEquals("${foo}", context.getBean("test-job", Job.class).getName());
+		assertEquals(4, context.getBean("foo", Foo.class).values[1], 0.01);
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -97,10 +110,10 @@ public class GenericApplicationContextFactoryTests {
 		factory.setCopyConfiguration(false);
 		ConfigurableApplicationContext context = factory.createApplicationContext();
 		assertEquals("test-job", context.getBeanNamesForType(Job.class)[0]);
-		assertEquals("bar", ((Job) context.getBean("test-job", Job.class)).getName());
+		assertEquals("bar", context.getBean("test-job", Job.class).getName());
 		// The CustomEditorConfigurer is a BeanFactoryPostProcessor so the
 		// editor gets copied anyway!
-		assertEquals(4, ((Foo) context.getBean("foo", Foo.class)).values[1], 0.01);
+		assertEquals(4, context.getBean("foo", Foo.class).values[1], 0.01);
 	}
 
 	@Test
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/profiles.xml b/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/profiles.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aae234868
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/support/profiles.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" 
+	xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
+	xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx" 
+	xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
+	xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
+	xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context" 
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.1.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-3.1.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-3.1.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.1.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/util http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util-3.1.xsd">
+
+	<beans profile="preferred">
+		<bean id="test-job" class="org.springframework.batch.core.job.JobSupport">
+			<property name="name" value="${bar}" />
+		</bean>
+
+		<context:property-placeholder order="0" properties-ref="myProperties"/>
+		
+	    <bean id="myProperties" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertiesFactoryBean">
+	        <property name="properties">
+	            <props>
+	                <prop key="bar">spam</prop>
+	            </props>
+	        </property>
+	    </bean>
+	</beans>
+	
+	<beans profile="other">
+		<bean id="test-job" class="org.springframework.batch.core.job.JobSupport">
+			<property name="name" value="${bar}" />
+		</bean>
+
+		<context:property-placeholder order="0" properties-ref="myProperties"/>
+		
+	    <bean id="myProperties" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertiesFactoryBean">
+	        <property name="properties">
+	            <props>
+	                <prop key="bar">foo</prop>
+	            </props>
+	        </property>
+	    </bean>
+	</beans>
+</beans>