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Beach Energy faces 2 potential class actions
Investors could bring a class action against an oil company for misleading the market, two law firms have alleged.
Lauren Croft
Shine Lawyers is currently investigating whether a class action can be brought against Beach Energy for misleading shareholders, wherein the oil company predicted earnings far beyond its currently forecasted revenue.
Class actions practice leader at Shine Lawyers, Craig Allsopp, said that the firm would be ascertaining interest from investors in a case against Beach for “allegedly misleading the market with optimistic projections for a declining oil reserve in South Australia”.
“Investors must have been in disbelief as the company’s market capitalisation plummeted more than 40 per cent in 2021,” he said.
“Shine Lawyers is investigating whether Beach Energy knew or ought to have known about the decline in its Western Flank business at the time it issued its bullish earnings guidance last August.”
Slater and Gordon announced a similar class action investigation in July but have not yet launched proceedings against Beach Energy.
Both class actions concern the company’s announcements to the market about the performance and potential of their Western Flank oil assets in South Australia.
Eligible shareholders may have claims against Beach Energy in relation to losses incurred following the company’s announcements to the ASX on 15 February 2021 and 30 April 2021.
Beach Energy announced that it expected FY21 earnings of up to $950 million, with the production of up to 27.5 million barrels of oil and reaffirmed its five-year outlook target before downgrading its earnings and oil barrel production and withdrawing its five-year outlook target completely.
This follows the news that there were a “record” number of class action lawsuits filed in the last financial year, as well as a2 milk being hit with two class actions last week and the announcement of a landmark climate change class action against the Australian government after a new report showed that climate and cyber class actions would continue to rise.
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
