News: ORG UPDATE 2-Australia's Origin Energy half-year profit tops forecasts on higher power prices

	  H1 underlying profit beats consensus 

	  Origin raises energy markets full year guidance by 13%  

	  Interim dividend, up 67%, tops forecasts 

	  Shares jump 3.9%   

(Recasts throughout to add more details on result, context and share price)

Australia's Origin Energy (ORG) on Thursday posted a 17-fold jump in underlying profit, raised its full year outlook and announced a bigger-than-expected dividend in its first result since its top shareholder blocked a $10.6 billion takeover.

The buoyant results go some way to validating the opposition of AustralianSuper to last year's A$9.39 per share bid led by Brookfield BAM.TO , which Australia's largest pension fund argued was too cheap.

"We expect Origin's strong first half performance to carry over into the second half," CEO Frank Calabria said in a statement.

"I am confident in Origin's prospects and believe we are uniquely positioned to capture value from the energy transition."

The country's top power retailer reported underlying profit of A$747 million ($485 million) for the six months ended Dec. 31, compared with A$44 million a year ago and well ahead of the consensus estimate of A$688 million cited by UBS.

Its shares jumped 3.9% in early trade and were last up 2.7% at A$8.81, outperforming a 0.8% rise in the broader market (xjo) .

While all segments grew, the result was driven by a resurgence in energy markets, which includes power generation and energy retailing.

Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) there grew almost fivefold to A$1.04 billion from A$231 million a year earlier on higher electricity prices and lower fuel costs at its coal plants.

Origin raised full year guidance for the division to between A$1.6 billion ($1.04 billion) and A$1.8 billion, versus its prior forecast of between A$1.30 billion and A$1.70 billion.

In the gas business, which includes a 27.5% stake in the Australia Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas (APLNG) project, underlying EBITDA also rose 5%.

Origin, which recently raised its stake in UK energy retailer Octopus Energy to 23%, expects the business to contribute less than A$100 million in EBITDA for the full year.

Origin declared an interim dividend of 27.5 Australian cents per share, up from 16.5 Australian cents last year and ahead of the consensus 20 Australian cents per share cited by UBS. ($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars)