Oz Beach Announces Record Underlying Profit

Australian Beach Energy’s underlying net profit, which excludes the impact of one-off items, for 12-months to June (FY 2019) was up 86% year on year to a record A$560mn (US$379mn) thanks to higher production, it said August 19.

Company’s production for the year stood at 29.4mn barrels of oil equivalent, up 55% year on year. This was higher than the full year guidance of 26 – 28mn boe, the company said.

Beach Energy managing director Matt Kay said the results capped off a substantial year for the company as it also achieved record production, reached a net cash position two years ahead of schedule and delivered its best safety and environmental performance on record.

“We have placed ourselves in a strong financial position that allows us to accelerate investment in our expanded growth portfolio as we continue our focus to deliver best-in-class returns for investment,” he said.

Kay also outlined an updated five-year production outlook to which has been increased to 34 – 40mn boe (up from 30 – 36mn boe), and projected cumulative free cash flow of A$2.7bn over the next five years.

“Our accelerated investment campaign will see approximately A$1.5bn of additional investment over five years, starting in FY20 where 90% of our growth expenditure is projected to generate greater than 50% rates of return,” Kay said.

For FY 2020, Beach has announced a production guidance of 27-29mn boe and capital expenditure guidance of A$750-850mn.