UPDATE 2-Australia’s Origin Energy half-year profit tops forecasts on higher power prices

Australia's Origin Energy 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, which Australia's largest pension fund argued was too cheap. "I am confident in Origin's prospects and believe we are uniquely positioned to capture value from the energy transition."