Around the Traps ... with THE FERRET 08:11, Wednesday, 22 March 2006
Sydney - Wednesday - March 22: (RWE Australian Business News) - ******************************
ENGIN (ENG) is one to keep an eye on after a run on the stock which started yesterday morning at 39.5c and culminated in a record 46c in the afternoon, up 8c on the day, before a close at 45c.
Turnover was higher than usual at 6.7 million shares but the stock has been busy all month.
The shares rose steadily from 18c on February 17 to 29c on March 9 (including a 4c rise that day), just before the release of the December half-year report.
Engin said the half demonstrated "significant growth" in both subscriber lines and revenues with revenue up 143 per cent to $3.03 million.
" ... this sets Engin apart as the fastest-growing broadband telephony company in Australia," the company said.
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It may have a name like PORTLAND ORTHOPAEDICS (PLD) but this stock certainly can get a wriggle on.
Listed on December 21 the 25c shares closed their first day at 26c and then soared to 55c four days later.
The rise was so steep it became the subject of an ASX query.
We can't remember the last time a new listing copped a query this quick.
The company suggested it could have been due to the fact that its listing was accompanied by substantial positive nationwide publicity.
Since listing it had received a number of requests for stock by persons who did not subscribe before the close of the initial public offer and these had been "referred to their stockbrokers to acquire stock on the market".
There were plenty of chances to buy on the market as the shares slowly slid to as low as 32.5c on Tuesday last week.
Unfortunately for the sellers, the company last Thursday announced that Plus Orthopaedics of the US had become exclusive distributor of Portland's suite of orthopaedic joint products across the US.
Portland said it expected sales to rise significantly.
The shares bounced to 47c in reaction, fell to as low as 35.5c on Monday and yesterday closed up 0.5c to 40.5c.
Portland believes the relationship with Plus "provides the ideal springboard for the development of Portland into a substantial company".
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JINDALEE RESOURCES (JRL) made up for some lost ground after our piece suggesting its share price may not have reflected fully the worth of its 45 per cent stake in its September uranium spinoff ENERGY METALS (EME).
Jindalee rose 7c to 59.5c.
It had good reason to firm yesterday because Energy Metals itself put on 12c to $1.67.
With 10 million shares in Energy Metals, all of Jindalee's share price is accounted for by the total value of the parcel, with no value ascribed to its cash holding nor its other gold, nickel or iron ore projects.
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MULTIPLEX (MXG) issued an "Incident at Wembley National Stadium" announcement yesterday.
There may well have been an "incident" over Multiplex's announcement classification as well.
The company's statement first came out in non-market sensitive form but it was reissued later in market sensitive guise.
We wonder if there was any ASX intervention.
Anyway, shareholders were not too worried.
Multiplex slipped 5c to $3.15.
The incident involved a 30-metre roof rafter which had moved 500 millimetres at one end from its intended permanent position whilst work was being undertaken to remove temporary connections and affix the rafter to its final position.
Contrary to UK media reports immediately after the event, the steel did not fall to the ground, the entire roof did not drop and the permanent design was not in question, Multiplex said.
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After several days trading in a narrow range in the "high $53s" (do you like the real estate turn of phrase?) CSL shot out of the boxes yesterday and piled on $1.05 to a year high (possibly a record high) of $55 yesterday before closing at $54.72.
There's always plenty to like about CSL but the latest spurt may be due to a bullish interview with CEO Brian McNamee on The Eureka Report on the internet.
Mr McNamee said he thought "we've got some tremendous opportunities" between now and 2010.
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