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Few clues to 7pc leap
in Australis shares
SYDNEY: Australis Media
shares leapt nearly 7 per cent on
the Australian" Stock Exchange
yesterday,' but media analysts
have mixed opinions about the
'fortunes of the" pay-television
stock:
Australis shares rose 7c to
close at a four-month high of
$1.12, but analysts were unsure of
the reasons behind the turn
around in sentiment.
"There doesn't appear to be
any single event that has re
newed the positive sentiment,"
one analyst said.
. "It's just the way it works, par
ticularly with stocks like this
which are really concept stocks
— you just get an analyst spend
ing a couple of weeks on it and
then they decide, 'Yep, it's a buy'
and that's when investors start
buying."
The stock was last at this level
when it closed at S1.15 on Septem
ber 21 last year.
The analyst said he saw yester
day's move as the start of a signi-!
ficant move higher for Australis,
but he declined,to, nominate a
target for 1995, saying only that it
would end the year' "much higher
than this".
"I've been calling the stock a
buy for a while," he said. •
"It just seems to me to be an
investor who has finally .decided
that they're going to jump in — a
lot of them have been sitting on
the fence and it looks like one of
them has started buying."
Other analysts tipped -a gloomi
er future for the company's share
price: "I've got a sell recommend
ation on the stock because I'm
not convinced that they are going
to be able to achieve their tar
gets," one said.
Analysts • rejected speculation
that Kerry Packer's Publishing
and Broadcasting Ltd or Rupert
Murdoch's News Corp were be
hind the optimistic buying.
"I don't believe that would be
the case because I don't think
that either group is interested in
taking a, stake in Australis.
"They, might do a deal with
Australis, but they wouldn't be
buying'shares," one said.
The analyst described Australis
as an "event-driven stock", which
was benefiting from the forthcom
ing launch of its services due to
start on January 26.
An- Austi'alis subsidiary was
yesterday granted 20 pay-televi
sion licences for microwave deliv
ery systems after the tenders
were placed on hold in 1993 pend
ing the outcome of the bungled
bidding, process for the Federal
.Government's two satellite pay
TV licences.
However, other analysts said
they did not believe this was re
sponsible for the rise in the share
price. Australis was the success
ful bidder last year for pay TV's
B satellite licence for $183 million
and planned to beam television
sot-vinos into homes bv .Tanuarv
26.
— AAP
$