Australia | Oct 17 2006
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
“I would not like to be God today, Kerry would be apoplectic” is just one of the quips FN Arena team members threw at each other following the revelation by the Australian Financial Review this morning that James Packer is completing a plan to sell half of Publishing and Broadcasting’s (PBL) media interests to a consortium of private equity investors.
It is but logical to assume that James Packer has now secured himself, and PBL, a leading role in next year’s anticipated mergers and acquisition tsunami following proposed regulatory changes aimed at reshaping Australia’s media landscape.
No doubt you will hear and read more about all this in the coming days (and months).
We had a quick look in our database at how expert opinions are positioned towards the sector and discovered, among other things, that most media stocks are already trading above their average twelve month targets. Exceptions are Seven Network (SEV) and… PBL (see table below).
This matter is to be continued.
| FNA indicator | Buys | Holds | Sells | av target | last price | ||
| Publishing & Broadcasting | PBL | 0.7 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 19.92 | 19.85 |
| Seven Network | SEV | 0.4 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10.39 | 9.38 |
| John Fairfax | FXJ | 0.3 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 4.39 | 4.48 |
| Southern Cross Broadcasting | SBC | 0.3 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 13.08 | 14.3 |
| West Aust Newspapers | WAN | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 9.02 | 10.02 |
| Rural Press | RUP | -0.1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 10.92 | 11.5 |
| Ten Network | TEN | -0.1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2.86 | 3.24 |
| Austereo | AEO | -0.1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1.93 | 2.06 |
| PMP | PMP | -0.2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1.7 | 1.86 |