Australia's Beach Energy swings to annual profit, flags softer production outlook (updated)

Beach Energy

06/08/2026 03:09

Changes headline, recasts paragraph 1, and updates with analysts' comments and latest share price
By Shruti  Agarwal and Kumar Tanishk
Aug 6 (Reuters) - Beach Energy BPT.AX posted an annual profit on Thursday, a sharp turnaround from a year-earlier loss, although shares closed lower as investors weighed the Australian oil and gas producer's softer production outlook.
The Adelaide-headquartered company swung to a statutory net profit after tax of A$281.4 million for the year ended June 30 from a loss of A$43.8 million a year earlier.
Beach forecast fiscal 2027 production of between 19.5 million and 23 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe).
    Citi analysts said the production range was around 5% below the Visible Alpha consensus estimate at the midpoint.
    The company's capital expenditure outlook of A$600 million ($423.30 million) to A$700 million for fiscal 2027 was about 12% above consensus expectations at the midpoint, the brokerage said.
The stock fell as much as 6.2% to A$0.835 earlier in the day, marking its biggest intraday percentage decline since June 24, but recouped slightly to close 0.6% lower. 
"We expect the market likely to look through the headline core NPAT beat," Citi analysts said.
Production remained resilient despite flooding in the Cooper Basin and natural field decline in the Otway Basin, supported by the ramp-up of the Waitsia gas plant, which reached nameplate capacity in April.
"The FY27 production range of 19.5 to 23.0 MMboe is unusually wide, and in our view reflects genuine operational uncertainty around Waitsia's ramp trajectory," said Emanuel Ajay Datt, managing director at investment manager Datt Group.
Datt said his production expectations were near the midpoint of the range, around 21 MMboe, adding that Waitsia remained the key variable and operational delivery was central to the investment case. He said other projects in the Western Flank appeared encouraging. 
The turnaround to profit was driven by a 7% increase in its average realised gas price to A$11.5 per gigajoule, which the company attributed to its gas marketing strategy.
Beach declared a final dividend of 2 Australian cents per share, down from 6 Australian cents a year earlier. 

($1 = 1.4174 Australian dollars)


 (Reporting by Shruti Agarwal in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Kumar Tanishk; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Shruti.Agarwal@thomsonreuters.com;))