By PAUL PANCKHURST
Is something up with Tower?
Shares in the company shot up nearly 10 per cent on the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday to close at A$1.80.
That means the share has put on nearly 13 per cent on the ASX in two days.
Tower was yesterday up nearly 6 per cent on
the New Zealand stock exchange, which closes before Australia's.
The prices are 20-month highs for a stock that had tumbled from $3.55 when it issued a profit warning in November 2002.
In May, Tower announced a profit of $20.5 million for the six months to the end of March - reversing a net loss of $154.4 million for the same period a year earlier.
The company's back-from-the-dead performance included a tumultuous capital raising.
At the time of the latest result, Malcolm Davie, of sharebroking firm First NZ Capital, said Tower had regained its momentum after a tough period.
The company has been seen by some as a likely takeover target.
But in an interview this month with an Australian reporter, chairman Olaf O'Duill said it had been a potential target since it was demutualised in 1999.
An acquisition of its own or a merger were long-term possibilities, he said.
"There is no reason why we shouldn't consider an acquisition in Australia."
