Shares in Seven Group Holdings Limited (ASX: SVW) shot 1.47% higher this morning following a 6% jump in the Beach Energy Limited (ASX: BPT) share price to $1.792 per share at midday.
Why did the Beach share price surge today?
The Beach Energy share price surged 6% higher in early trade following its half-yearly results update earlier this morning. It's been somewhat of a mixed bag in the energy and mining sector quarterly reports, but there was no doubting the solid result today.
Beach reported a 199% increase in underlying net profit to $279 million and announced a $0.01 per share, fully-franked dividend following the strong result. Facility reliability averaged above 97% for the half-year whilst 1H19 production of 15.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) showed the company's operations are running smoothly.
While the energy companies remain an easy target, I expect today's result and updated guidance to see the stock soar with no sign of falling wholesale electricity prices in the near-term.
What's that got to do with the Seven share price?
Seven Group, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Network Investment Holdings Pty Limited, holds a ~70% majority stake in Beach Energy. Seven recently increased its stake even further, purchasing a further 68 million shares in mid-November to take its total outstanding position to over 650 million shares.
Seven has diversified away from its media roots in recent years into core areas such as mining and energy, and if it continues its recent run of form it could go even higher.
Foolish Takeaway
Seven's share price was a star performer in a mixed day for Aussie equities, with the S&P/ASX200 Index (ASX: XJO) up 0.1% at midday to 6,084.2 points. Now that we're well and truly into reporting season, with energy stocks performing particularly strongly, I'd be keeping an eye on Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX: VEA) for further strong earnings in February.
