At one point, it was posting a weekly gain of 133% amid news the United Kingdom (UK) government has lifted a near-three-year ban on fracking.

Fracking – the technique used to release gas from shale rock – is a major business for AJ Lucas. Its subsidiary, Cuadrilla Resources, is the UK's leading onshore shale gas exploration company.

After opening at 10.5 cents on Monday, the AJ Lucas share price leapt to a high of 24.5 cents today. That marks a 133% gain.

It has since handed back some of that gain to trade at 17.75 cents at the time of writing – representing a 68.9% weekly gain.

Let's take a closer look at the news that seems to have been driving the ASX energy-focused stock this week.

What's driving this energy-focused ASX share sky high?

The AJ Lucas share price has rocketed this week amid news the UK government has lifted its ban on fracking in an effort to bolster the nation's gas supplies.

New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss expects the change will help the nation regain its independence from international energy prices. Energy prices have surged this year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Fracking was banned in the UK in November 2019. Its prohibition was due to concerns about earth tremors and its environmental impact, BBC News reports.

In a press release shared to the ASX today, Cuadrilla Resources CEO Francis Egan says:

This is an entirely sensible decision and recognises that maximizing the UK's domestic energy supply is vital if we are going to overcome the ongoing energy crisis and reduce the risk of it recurring in the future.

Cuadrilla Resources said the UK was previously on a path that would see it importing two-thirds of its gas by 2030. It said such a reliance on international gas would risk supply shortages and price hikes.

AJ Lucas share price snapshot

It's been a good year for the relatively unknown ASX energy share.

This week's gains included, the AJ Lucas share price is currently trading 407% higher than it was at the start of 2022.

It has also gained 492% since this time last year.

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Let's take a closer look and see what's driving the drilling services company's shares.

What pushed the AJ Lucas share price higher?

The AJ Lucas share price rocketed higher in mid-afternoon trade as investors appeared upbeat with the company's latest performance.

According to its release, AJ Lucas reported a drop in revenue, but a significant gain in net profit due to a stronger domestic market.

For the six months ending 31 December 2020, AJ Lucas delivered total group revenue of $61.3 million. This represents a fall of 20.9% from the prior corresponding period, driven by lower mining operations resulting from COVID-19.

However, its Australian operations grew over the first-half to offset the revenue loss. In addition, AJ Lucas achieved reduced losses from its United Kingdom operations, an R&D-related tax benefit and lower finance expenses.

This, in turn, helped support the company's bottom line in which it booked a net profit of $9.9 million. The overall result represented a $20.2 million turnaround from AJ Lucas' reported $10.3 million loss at the end of December 2019.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came to $15 million from the company's entire operations. This reflected a 63.5.% jump over the H1 FY20 period in which EBITDA stood at $9.1 million.

Management noted that it is continuing to look for opportunities to strengthen its Australian segment. It's hoping to further improve on earnings diversification, profitability, and future resilience.

The group closed the calendar year with cash and equivalents of $12.5 million, and $83.5 million of debt obligations.

Words from the CEO

AJ Lucas group CEO Brett Tredinnick hailed the strong scorecard for the first-half, saying:

The result reflected the strong operational performance of Lucas Drilling during the half despite revenue being impacted by COVID-related and other interruptions to clients' operations.

The drop in revenue in the period was more than offset by the increase in earnings resulting from a better mix of more technical, higher yielding drilling as well as the various operational and corporate efficiency measures taken. The Group is now better positioned to maximise growth opportunities and better withstand any possible future shocks.

The Board and management remain confident in the continued performance of the company's drilling operations and are buoyed by a recent increase in levels of tender activity.

Outlook

Looking ahead, AJ Lucas advised that it is continuing to see its strong performance run into the second half. The company stated that cash generated from the drilling division will be used to service and reduce its debt. Furthermore, AJ Lucas will seek to explore other business opportunities where it can grow its revenue base.

The AJ Lucas share price is up over 20% since this time last year.

The post Why the AJ Lucas (ASX:AJL) share price rocketed 120% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Not all are of them are household names, but they all belong in the construction and engineering space. The industrials sector has pretty much gone sideways since the start of the year, so it's a credit to these five that they've managed such outstanding performances. The worst, still managed to outperform the ASX200 by 12%.

Here they are:

(Source:Commsec)

Service Stream Limited

Service Stream provides essential network services to copper, fibre and wireless telecommunications networks, and private and public energy, and water companies nationally.

The company designs, manages and builds mobile phone tower infrastructure, such as tower bases and pylons, existing structural reinforcements, and equipment fixtures, in addition to new fixed-line communications networks and individual user connections. They also read millions of gas and water meters every year.

Sedgman Limited

Sedgman provides mineral processing, infrastructure solutions, and project engineering to the global resources industry.

The project division handles the design, construction and commissioning of coal handling and preparation plants, minerals processing plants and other related equipment. While the operations division provides resources (people) to help optimise plant operations and maintenance services for clients.

AJ Lucas Group Limited

AJ Lucas provides construction, civil engineering, and drilling services to the energy, water, waste water, resources, and public infrastructure sectors. The company also provides drilling and gas management services to the Australian coal industry and develops unconventional hydrocarbon properties.

OTOC FPO

OTOC provides construction and turnkey camp/village installations, environmental, surveying, mapping, town planning, engineering, project delivery and specialist consulting services across the infrastructure, resources and energy sectors.

The company operates through its wholly owned subsidiaries OTOC Australia, Whelans Australia Pty Ltd, Bosco Jonson, Geo-Metric, and THG.

Cimic Group Ltd

Everyone's heard of CIMIC Group (formerly Leighton Holdings Limited). With a market cap of around $10 billion, they're one of our 50 largest companies. Not only that, but they just posted a full year profit of $520 million for the period ending 31 December, 2015.

The company owns and operates through a number of diverse and independent operating companies: Leighton Contractors; Thiess; Leighton Asia, India and Offshore; and Leighton Properties.

The post 5 construction and engineering beasts crushing the S&P/ASX200 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.