Ann: Appointment and Departure of CEO, page-7

Broker note:

The sudden exit of Beach Energy CEO Morne Engelbrecht creates an opportunity for a strategic reset, Citi says. Engelbrecht was in charge when the company withdrew capex guidance for the second stage of its Waitsia natural-gas project in Western Australia. "We have also felt that the strategy was not particularly clear under CEO Engelbrecht," Citi says. "Indeed, we had questioned the raison d'etre of Beach in the context of our work on how oil and gas companies should allocate capital in the energy transition." Beach should consider returning free cash as dividends and on-market share buybacks, Citi says. This is because the bank doesn't believe Beach has the scale or capabilities to navigate the energy transition. Beach has named Brett Woods as its new CEO, although he won't join until February